WHILE voter registration period will officially end today, January 31, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday said it will extend today’s list-up hours to accommodate everyone who waited for the last day to file their applications.
In a brief statement, Elections chairman George Garcia said voter registration sites will remain open until applications of everyone who are in line by 3 p.m. have been processed.
“They (registration sites) should extend as long as there are people, there are those still in line,” Garcia said, adding this is in accordance with provisions of Comelec Resolution No. 10868 or the rules on voter registration for the next Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).
In the said resolution, Election Assistants (EAs) are directed to list down the names of persons waiting in line to file their applications for registration and are within a 30-meter radius from the voter registration sites, at 3 p.m. of the last day of the registration period.
Once their turn comes, the applicants shall be called by announcing each name repeatedly three times in the order in which they were listed.
Any applicant, who is not present when his/her name is called, shall no longer be allowed to file his/her application for registration/transfer/reactivation.
On the other hand, if the applicant is present when his/her name is called, his/her application shall be processed, and his/her biometrics data captured.
“The same shall continue, until all those listed shall have been processed. This procedure, shall be followed whether the Election Officer has issued queuing numbers or any other similar systems,” said the Comelec.
Voter registration activities resumed last December 12, 2022 and will end today.
The Comelec has repeatedly said it is not extending the voter registration period for the next BSKE.
In a related development, the Comelec said it has temporarily suspended today the issuance of Voter’s Certification in all Offices of the Election Officer (OEOs). The service will resume on February 1, Wednesday.
However, the Commission said the issuance of Voter’s Certification will be continuous in its main office in Manila.
The Comelec is referring to the one conducted by its Election Records and Statistics Department (ERSD) at the FEMII Building in Extension Cabildo Street cor. A. Soriano Avenue, Intramuros, Manila.
In its latest data, the Comelec has already received over 2 million applications for voter registration.
As of January 28, or three days before the deadline, there are already 2,085,142 applications for voter registration.
Of the total, there were 2,076,491 applications filed in regular registration sites or in OEOs.
On the other hand, the Register Anywhere Project (RAP) booths received 8,651 applications for voter registration.
Among the total applicants, there were 1,248,607 that are first time voters or new registrants. They include 582,299 voters aged 15 to 17 years old; 543,553 voters aged 18 to 30 years old; and 117,970 voters aged 31 years old and above.
