25 June 2015 - The Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi has registered 40,618 new overseas voters at close of office hours today, exceeding its target of 40,500 new overseas voter registrants for the 2016 Philippine elections.

The Embassy team led by Philippine Ambassador to United Arab Emirates (UAE) Grace Relucio Princesa partnered with the Bayanihan Council, an umbrella federation of Filipino organizations in Abu Dhabi and with various hospitals, hotels, church organizations, shops and factories to reach as many Filipinos as possible. The Embassy team is currently undertaking field registration in hypermarkets in order to register the Filipino employees. It will continue to make the rounds among hospitals in AI Ain to register the health workers. It will also begin registration in Catholic churches by July.

Overseas Filipinos in Abu Dhabi appreciate the opportunity to vote for their chosen candidate into office. Many of the registrants had been living in the UAE for more than a decade but had never registered due to time constraints, among other reasons. Some of the registrants mentioned that their reason for registering is to support a particular government official.

The registration period will continue until October 31. The Embassy aims to add around 10,000 more overseas registrants to the present number. END