INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections said there are now 59 million voters who registered for the 2022 local and national elections, or at least one million voters short of its target.
The poll body is hoping to reach more than 60 million registered voters for the 2022 polls.
Comelec Commissioner Antonio Kho Jr. said prospective voters can still get registered until the end of September.
“We are inviting all our prospective voters to register and go to our offices para makapagrehistro sila,” he said in a Laging Handa public briefing.
In the 2019 elections, there were about 61.8 million voters but Comelec had to deactivate seven million, mostly due to failure to vote twice.
Kho said they have implemented several measures to make registration easier, including the “iRehistro” where applicants may accomplish their application forms online but they will still have to go to Comelec offices for their biometrics.
Comelec has also deployed satellite registration centers to reach out to communities to register.
“Hopefully, with all these measures will increase our registration. We expect to reach around 60 million registered voters,” Kho said.
The minority bloc in the House of Representatives urged the Comelec to establish more satellite registration centers in the country for people wishing to register for the 2022 national and local elections.