Registrants jam Comelec office
A heavy turnout of unruly would-be voters marred the first day of registration for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections in Cebu City yesterday.
The Cebu City south district office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) opened at 8 a.m but was unprepared for the 2,500 city residents that crowded their office at Osmeña Boulevard corner P. Burgos Street.
The area was closed to vehicular traffic to accommodate the registrants, most of whom shoved each other to get ahead of the line.
The constant shoving caused the Comelec office’s glass wall to collapse, slightly injuring some registrants.
“Dili sad mi mo sugot nga pulihan kay alas siyete pa gud mi ga linya (I refused to yield my spot because I lined up as early as 7 a.m),” said 42-year-old Divina Agustin, a resident of barangay Opra who got pinned to the glass wall.
Agustin said she lined up outside the Comelec south district office at the ground floor of the WDC building across the Basilica when a group of people arrived and tried to push their way into the office.
Comelec employees and city police tried to sort out the lines and allocate a lane for seniors and persons with disabilities (PWDs) to no avail.
The registration was suspended after their glass wall collapsed.
At 2:30 p.m. Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama arrived with City Hall officials and ordered police to set up a command post and restore order in the registration process.
Eight tents and chairs were set up for the registrants, who were told to line up outside of the iron railings installed to divide the north and south district offices.
Only those ahead of the line were asked to enter the cordoned area and sit on chairs while waiting to be accommodated.
About 10 Kaohsiung buses were on standby to fetch would-be voters and bring them to the city proper.
Starting today, queries and completion of registration forms will be done at the Plaza Independencia. The plaza will also serve as a holding area for the crowd.
“Because each office can only accommodate 800 registrants in a day, it is important that we should tell those who won’t be accommodated to just come back tomorrow,” Rama said.
Cadungog blamed the overcrowding to the combined registration for barangay and SK elections.
Councilor Gerardo Carillo, head of the City Council’s social services committee said Comelec should have asked for City Hall’s assistance earlier.
As of 3 p.m yesterday, the Comelec Cebu City south district office registered only 300 voters. The registration period ends next Monday, July 31. /Edison delos Angeles, Carine M. Asutilla and Jose Santino Bunachita, Correspondents
