Voters find off-site registration in malls easier, more convenient

For voter Minda Bontuyan, 44, the off-site registration and validation conducted by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the malls is a better option.

“Peaceful, dili samok (not chaotic),” she told Cebu Daily News while she was filling out a form to apply for transfer from Argao town in southern Cebu to barangay Talamban, Cebu City, where she is presently residing.

First-time voter Ricky Cubo, 18, a resident of barangay Talamban, also finds registration at the mall very convenient.

“Diri, organized ang flow unya dili taas kaayong linya, duol ra sab sa amoa (The registration process is organized, the queue is short and it is near our house),” he said.

“Hasol baya didto kay huot kaayo inig sud sa ilang office (It’s inconvenient to register at the Comelec because their office is cramped),” he said.

Bontuyan and Cubo were among the more than 200 voters who availed of Comelec’s off-site registration and validation at Gaisano Talamban on Aug. 9.

Another off-site registration was conducted at Metro Colon and Gaisano Capital (formerly Gaisano South) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Aug. 14.

Omar Sharif Mamalinta, election assistant of Comelec Cebu City, said they are conducting off-site registration and validation in the malls to encourage more people to register and submit their biometric data for the national elections in May next year.

“Ang among tuyo (Our objective) is to be able to have a wider scope and greater number of registrants because the voters registration will end by Oct. 31 this year,” he said.

At the mall, registrants have to follow six steps.

First, they secure a registration form. Then, they are assigned a precinct. Third, they fill out the forms.

After filling out the form, a registrant is given an application number. The voter then proceeds to have his or her biometrics taken. Comelec personnel will get his/her signature, picture, fingerprint, full name, birth place, application number, and parents’ name, among others.

Finally, a registrant has his/her thumb print taken. An acknowledgment receipt is then given to the registrant.

For those who will validate their biometric data or process the transfer of their registration, they will get instructions as soon as they secure a registration form.

Comelec Cebu City deployed 20 personnel to conduct the off-site registration and validation in the malls.

Under Republic Act No. 10367, or the Mandatory Biometrics Registration Act of 2013, voters who do not submit biometric data before or during the registration period will not be allowed to vote.

Cebu provincial election supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano said 24,683 voters or 8.64 percent of the 285,505 registered voters in Mandaue City as of July 20 still have no biometrics.

In the first district of Cebu, 19,054 registered voters have no biometrics.

Castillano said that even when the voters have registered and were able to vote years ago, they will not be allowed to vote if they fail to validate their biometrics.