Filipinos in Kailua-Kona, BigIsland, availed of the visit of the OAV Registration Team from 7 to 9 August 2009 to register as overseas absentee voter and vote in the national elections in May 2010.
A couple, who wished not to be named, brought their children, aged 18 and 20, to register. Aware of the 31 August 2009 deadline, the mother has been trying to schedule a visit to Honolulu to register but was constrained by the cost of airfare and hotel accommodation. She has already despaired that she would miss the
deadline and the opportunity to take part in the May 2010 elections which she believes would be a turning point in the country’s democratic history. She thanked the Consulate for scheduling a Mobile OAV Outreach Team to Kona and the Philippin Government for enabling overseas Filipinos to vote in the Philippine national elections.
The Philippine Consulate General, in cooperation with the Kona Visayan Club and its President, Ms. Jane Clement, and key leaders of the Filipino Community in Kona, held the Mobile OAV registration at the KealakeheIntermediateSchool at Onipaa Street, Kailua-Kona. The Kona Visayan Club, in association with the Congress of Visayan Organisations (COVO), has included community service as part of its year-long celebrations to commemorate the Centennial of Visayan migration in the Hawaiian islands.
Sunny Kona has about 3,000 Filipinos. Majority of the 13,551 Filipinos in the BigIsland, live in Hilo, or the “wet side”. Also known for its historic landmarks, Kona was once the home of King Kamehameha who spent his later years in Kailua-Kona.
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