The 27th (COMSOFIL) Commencement Exercises and General Assembly was held at the Elite International School in Riyadh. The annual celebration was attended by the members of the Board of Trustees, 16 Board of Directors, Executive Officers, ICT expert Instructors, their assistants, technical support staff,families, graduates, friends and guests. Some 535 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the Kingdom, comprising of 492 males and 43 females,successfully completed their three-month intensive workshop on Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Forty-four Filipino ICT expert instructors and five assistants instructors facilitated this year's information and educational campaign to professionally enhance the technical know-how of Filipino expatriate workers in the Kingdom, and to prepare them for their eventual reintegration in the Philippine society. Vice-Consul Redentor Genotiva, who represented Philippine Ambassador Ezzedin H. Tago, was the Guest of Honor and Speaker during the ceremony. “Your Society's enduring commitment in an unstinting effort, in helping uplift the life, skills and profession of OFWs in the Kingdom is an epitome of the the distinct Filipino concept of “volunteerism” — “bayanihan”. Not only you have help uplift the lives of countless “kababayans”, but also uplifted the images of the Philippines as a country. Indeed, COMSOFIL is one of the few Filipino community organizations in the Kingdom that is worth emulating. To all our graduates, today's graduation is a testament to the spirit bayanihan in each of your members. It is another distinction in COMSOFIL's long list of achievements, least tradition of volunteerism and self-less commitment to help, and I wish it will continue under the new leadership,” he said. Genotiva took the opportunity and addressed the current ongoing Philippine national government's Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV), and made a strong appeal to all the graduates and Filipinos. He urged the Filipino workers in the Kingdom to participate and support the ongoing OAV registration. The law was passed to enable Filipino overseas workers to vote abroad. Those who will turn 18 years old on May 13, 2012 are eligible to vote. Those who failed to register and vote in the last two elections can still vote and register at the Philippine Embassy from Saturday to Wednesday (8:00 A.M. — 5:00 P.M.) and Thursdays (8:00 A.M. — 12:00 P.M.). __
