New registrants flock to the COMELEC offsite registration center at Robinson’s Galleria.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Commission on Elections District Offices said they are prepared for the extension of voters registration from October 9 to 31, 2021.
Lawyer Chauncey Boholst, the North District Election Officer, said they have been preparing for the possible extension and they are now awaiting official instructions from the en banc this afternoon, September 28, 2021.
“Andam man gyod ta pirmi. Kanang extension, nagwait lang gyod ta sa final decision sa en banc this afternoon then we can start preparations,” said the election officer.
Boholst said that the extension will be a challenge because the North and South District Offices already have their hands full with the registration, application processing, and the filing of the Certificates of Candidacy (COCs).
The filing of the COC will push through from October 1 to 8, 2021, and the Comelec Cebu City is expected to hold full operations at the District Offices for the said days.
Now with an additional 22 days of voter registration afterward, Comelec will have to stretch out its manpower.
Boholst said they will be coordinating with malls in the city again for the remote holding of voter registrations.
“For the first few days sa office pa guro ta because dili man na madali-dali, we need to coordinate again sa mga malls. Pero confident ta because our malls have been very gracious,” he said.
Comelec needs a bigger space for the registration because the average application they receive as of September 29, 2021, is already around 900 per day in the mall registration sites.
Given the quarantine restrictions, Boholst said it is impossible to reach these numbers in the District Offices.
They hope that malls will still allow them to hold the registration remotely because malls are comfortable spaces for applicants and Comelec staff, alike.
As of July to September 2021, the North District has processed at least 15,000 new voter applicants, which is expected to be added to the current 317,118 voters of the district.
The South District is still collating the data, but it is expected that the South District has more new applicants because the barangays there have more residents.
Boholst urged applicants to stay tuned to announcements in the coming days for the extension of the voter registrations, and he urged them to enlist with this additional chance to register. /rcg
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