Last-minute voter registrants told to exercise patience
Hundreds of voter registrants line up and wait for their turn at a mall in Cebu City on Friday, July 22, 2022, the second to the last day of the voters registration period for the December 2o22 SK and Barangay elections | Wenilyn B. Sabalo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — An official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec)-Cebu City North District has appealed to qualified voters who plan to beat the deadline of the Comelec registration for barangay and SK elections on Saturday, July 23, 2022, to exercise patience as the C0melec sees a last minute surge of voter registrants on Saturday.
Cebu City North District Election Officer and Lawyer Marchel Sarno, in an interview on Friday, July 22, reminded registrants that they only had until Saturday to file their applications, including transfer, reactivation, and correction of entries, among Comelec registration processes.
“Based on experience ingon ana jud na. Mudagsa jud na sila (on the last day of registration). Hopefully nga magda pod sila sa ilang pasensya siguro,” Sarno told Cebu media.
(Based on experience, that is the way they do it. They will come (on the last day of registration). Hopefully, they will also bring with them their patience too.)
The registration for the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) and Barangay elections, slated this December 2022, started last July 4.
Instead of conducting registration in its offices, Comelec has held off-site registration in malls to accommodate more registrants.
READ: Comelec Cebu City to hold voters registration in malls
Sarno said each registration site caters to an average of 800 to 900 registrants daily.
From July 4 to 6, off-site registration for Cebu City north district was conducted at the Times Square in Barangay Talamban, while the off-site registration from July 7 to 9 was conducted at Robinsons Cybergate.
Off-site registration for both north and south districts was only available at Robinsons Galleria from July 18 to 23.
Hundreds of voter registrants show up at a mall in Cebu City on Friday, July 22, 2022, the second to the last day of the voters registration period for the December 2022 SK and Barangay elections.| Wenilyn B. Sabalo
Sarno said registration on Saturday would start at 9 a.m. with no definite cut-off time yet.
“Atong tanawon ang gidaghanon then depende sa cut off. Pwede ta mo cut off og alas 3, pwede og earlier sad. Depende gyod na sa kadaghanon kay sa una diri sa atong office nagconduct tagregistration nagcut off tag alas 8 tungod sa kadaghan sa tawo,” he said.
(We will see the number of people then it will depend on the cut off. We can cut off at 3 p.m., we can also cut off earlier. It will depend on the number of people because the lat time where we conducted the registration in our office, the cut off was 8 (p.m.) because of the number of people.)
Sarno, however, did not divulge yet the total number of voter registrants in the north district pending the last day of the registration.
“Ang Comelec gapreparar sa election sa December 5. Naay hugon-hugon nga ipostpone, but wala pa man nay balaod. So kanang pagpostpone, speculation pa na siya. Ang Comelec cannot act on speculations,” he said.
(The Comelec is preparing for the election on December 5. There are rumors that it will be postponed, but there is no law on that yet. So the talks about postponing it are just speculations. And the Comelec cannot act on speculations.)
Among the registrants who lined up at Comelec off-site in Robinsons Galleria on Friday, July 22, was Arrah Jean Yamid, an incoming college student from Alcantara town in southwestern Cebu.
“Karon pa mi nakalugar kay nabusy sa pagpangita og ma-enrollan nga skwelahan. Importante nga nibalhin ko diri sa Pardo kay dili ko kakuha og scholarship kung dili ko ka transfer (sa Cebu City),” she said.
(Now is the only time that I can spare for this because I was busy looking for a school to enrol. It was important for mi to transfer here in Pardo, Cebu City, because I cannot get a scholarship if I cannot transfer (to Cebu City)).
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