22 April 2016 - Leading by example, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. cast his ballot for the 2016 Philippine National Elections at the Romulo Hall of the Philippine Embassy in Washington on April 20.

Ambassador Cuisia came from a series of official engagements in Manila, Guam, Hawaii, California, and Virginia before returning to Washington D.C. and casting his vote.

Overseas voter turnout has significantly declined from 2004’s 65 percent to only 25.99 percent in 2010. There are 1,386,087 registered Filipino overseas voters for this election cycle,176,064of whom are registered in the United States of America.

“That the Philippine Government continues to innovate the overseas voting system in order to encourage higher voter turnout and maintain the sanctity of the ballot, therefore speaks a lot about its determination to enfranchise its citizens living and working abroad,” Ambassador Cuisia encouraged Filipino overseas voters during the first ever voters education forum held at the Philippine Embassy last March 31.

“This is a sacred commitment enshrined in law and has been fully demonstrated every election cycle since 2004. It should be recalled, however, that it was the overseas Filipino community—your community—that ignited and turned this commitment into action. It was your determination to be heard, to have a say in the governance of your country, that made overseas voting possible”, Ambassador Cuisia further added.

The Embassy adopted mixed votingwith the Automated Election System-Modified Postal Voting as default option.All registered voters under the jurisdiction of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C that provided complete mailing addresses within mainland USA at the time of registration should receive their ballot packets by April 22.

Overseas voting will run until May 09, 5:00 AM (EDT). Instruction to voters is posted in the Philippine Embassy’s website athttp://www.philippineembassy-usa.org/. END