100-300k new voters expected to register in Cebu

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Cebu is expecting some 100,000-300,000 new voters as they reopen registrations from August 1 to September 30, 2019 for the May 2020 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).

Lawyer Ferdinand Gujilde, Cebu provincial election officer, said the new voters would likely be composed of the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) electorate. 

An SK voter should be at least 15 years old on the date of the election to register.

Cebu presently has 3,082,621 voters, including those registered in the independent cities of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu.

Gujilde also clarified that transfer of a voter’s registration may still be allowed in the registration for the BSKE.

This is contrary to a previous statement Gujilde issued last week that transfer of registration will not be allowed this to prevent barangay officials from pooling support from voters that they may have asked to register in their barangays but are not residents of the area.

Read more: Comelec: No transfer of voter’s registration for May 2020 barangay polls

“My previous statement nga walay transfer of registration,  I was speaking of the  policy sa una nga registration. For the forthcoming registration, dili pa sigurado kun i-carry over ba ang mao nga policy,” said Gujilde.

Gujilde added that it is up to the Comelec en banc to decide if it will carry over the no transfer policy in the coming registration. The final rules for the registration is expected to come out within the month. /bmjo