THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday announced Robinsons Place Manila will be one of the five shopping malls in the National Capital Region (NCR) that will host the pilot testing of the Register Anywhere Project (RAP).
In a statement, Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said the initial internal end-to-end demonstration of the RAP was also done at the Ermita-based mall last November 4.
“It’s being finalized. MOAs (Memorandum of Agreement) are now in the process with SM Supermalls and Ayala Malls,” said Laudiangco with regards to the other four sites.
The Comelec is set to pilot test the RAP every Saturday and Sunday between December 17, 2022 and January 29, 2023.
Laudiangco said the Comelec is already fine tuning the system before it is officially rolled out to the public, among them the information technology (IT) infrastructure part of the RAP.
“As we know, aside from the operational processes, the RAP is largely dependent on current IT infrastructure and resources,” said the poll official.
He said they are also looking at improving the on-site set-up in the selected mall sites and spaces allocated for the purpose of crowd queuing and people-traffic management.
“A public demonstration will be conducted before the actual roll out, with the date/s to be announced later on,” said Laudiangco.
Under the RAP, any qualified applicant residing anywhere in the Philippines may register at the RAP booths in designated NCR malls by submitting their application form, documentary requirements, and have their biometrics taken on-site.
Previously, only residents of the locality where a mall is located are allowed to register in mall registration sites.
The submitted documents and captured biometrics data shall then be endorsed and transmitted by the recipient RAP teams to the Office of the Election Officer of the district/city/municipality having jurisdiction over the residence of the applicant.
This is for the requisite verification, publication/posting, and Election Registration Board (ERB) hearings of the voter registration application. — Gerard Naval
