1 March 2016 - On 14 February, Philippine Ambassador to Italy Domingo Nolasco kicked off the campaign to increase awareness on Overseas Absentee Voting in Italy through a radio interview and a forum at the Sentro Pilipino Chaplaincy in Rome. Voter’s IDs were also distributed during the event.

The Philippine Embassy in Rome is undertaking a series of activities including organization of various fora for the Filipino Community on Overseas Absentee Voting, conduct of television and radio interviews, and massive information dissemination on overseas voting, among others to encourage Filipinos to exercise their right of suffrage.

Ambassador Nolasco explained the process and mode of voting in Italy for the May 2016 elections. The Philippine Embassy in Rome is one of the 30 Foreign Service Posts (FSPs) which will implement the Automated Election System (AES). Under the AES, the Philippine Embassy in Rome is one of the 17 FSPs that will implement mixed voting where a voter has the option to vote either through postal voting or personal voting.

He called on the members of the Filipino community to help the Embassy in disseminating information on the upcoming election. He emphasized that the success of the election is a shared responsibility. He also actively encouraged the community to be vigilant in all stages of the election process either as accredited media, accredited Filipino community or as watchers.

The Ambassador underscored the importance for Filipinos overseas to cast their votes this coming election. He assured the Filipino community of transparency in the conduct of elections in Rome. END