THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) Cebu plans to conduct voters’ education seminars in schools to increase the turnout of voters in next year’s national and local elections.
Lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, the Cebu provincial election supervisor, said they would be tapping the support of the Department of Education (DepEd) to create awareness among the youth about the importance of participating in elections.
“We would ask DepEd nga katong mga senior high para mahatagan mi og panahon nga maka conduct mi og dili pud mi makabalda sa ilang calendar,” he said.
(We would ask DepEd to allow us to conduct election seminars for senior high school students while not affecting their school calendar).
Castillano said they would be targeting to hold the “Know Election Better” seminar between August and September this year.
“We made consultations with our election officers nga mobalik mi og voters education sa mga eskwelahan labi na sa mga (to schools especially with) senior high, for them to register and vote,” he said.
According to Comelec, there were thousands of voters who have flocked to local election offices in Cebu province to register for the 2019 midterm election. Because of this, Castillano said they expected to get a higher number of voters’ participation next year.
“The Comelec wants more participation on the part of the youth,” Castillano added.
In the recently concluded May 14 elections, the Comelec in Cebu City recorded a 74.74 percent voters’ turnout in the barangay election while 71.62 percent of the city’s registered voters turned out for the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) election.