PHL EMBASSY IN ROK SETS UP SECOND FIELD VOTING IN DAEGU
DAEGU, 30 April 2016 - As part of its efforts to allow Filipinos living far from Seoul to exercise their right to suffrage, the Philippine Embassy in Seoul fielded a two-person team for the second and final time to conduct overseas voting in Daegu on 29-30 April 2016 in coordination with the Daegu Catholic Church and the Daegu Filipino Community council (DFCC).
A total of 131 locally-based voters personally appeared at the Catholic Migrant Workers' Center (CMWC) in Daegu's popular tourist center in Jung-gu district to get their ballots from the Embassy's Special Board of Election Inspector (SBEI) and submit their ballot to a member of the Special Ballot Reception and Custody Group (SBRCG). "The two-day voting here completes the two rounds of field voting in areas outside of Seoul, after Busan last week, based on requests made by the Philippine Embassy in Seoul led Ambassador Raul S. Hernandez, and approved by the Commission of Elections (COMELEC)," said Philippine Honorary Consul General An Sang-wook, whose jurisdiction covers the Daegu Metropolitan Area. Many Filipino registered voters took time off their lunch break, or around their factory shifts to go vote at the Catholic Migrant Workers' Center, said DFCC Chair Lovelie Gil, who helped out together with Fr. Paul Lee of the Daegu Catholic Church and veteran Korea resident and CMWC social worker Irene Curimao to publicize and provide a venue for the field voting. Located 240 km southeast of Seoul, Daegu is Korea's fourth biggest city after Seoul, Busan and Incheon, with a population of 2.5 million people. There are 1.673 Filipinos living in the Daegu Metropolitan City, most of whom are women.