THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) Cebu Provincial office has recorded more than 80,000 registrants in a span of four months.
Based on the data from Comelec Cebu, a total of 86,000 additional voters have registered since the voter’s registration for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections started last November 7, 2016 and lasted until April 29, 2017.
The barangay and SK elections were originally scheduled for October 31, 2016, but President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 10923 to postpone it to October 23, 2017.
Cebu Provincial Election Supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano said that their office won’t stop in their preparations for the coming elections unless there is a notice to move it to a later date.
Surigao del Norte Representative Robert “Ace” Barbers earlier sponsored the House Bill 5359 to postpone the October 23 Barangay and SK elections to May 2020.
The Comelec Election Registration Board (ERB), however, filed a bill to hasten the Barangay and SK elections.
Castillano said the ERB hearing will pass through the senate and the house of representatives. The hearing of the ERB will be on May 15.
After the ERB hearing, the number of registered voters will then be identified and the Comelec office will cluster the different precincts in each barangay and identify the election paraphernalia to be used during the election, he said.
Castillano further said that voters aged 17 years old will no longer have to register again as regular voters.
“Dili man pareha sauna nga wala pay biometrics. Karon, your record is already complete but as an SK na. Pag 18 nimo, kami na ang mag-transfer sa imong record,” Castillano said.
He said the volume of registrants this year is lesser than last year’s due to the uncertainty of the Barangay and SK election.
On the other hand, Castillano said the processing of the Comelec IDs will take up to eight to 10 months. But as of now, the Comelec is planning to procure a machine that will change the voter’s ID to something like a that of licensed ID, he said.
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