House panel pushes for extension of voter registration deadline

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — The House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms adopted Thursday two resolutions urging the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to extend the voter registration deadline to October 31.

During its online meeting, the committee adopted House Resolutions No. 2128 and 2139 filed by a number of lawmakers from both the majority and minority blocs.

The resolution was adopted even as the Comelec had previously said that there will be no extension of the voter registration period beyond September 30.

“While we recognize Comelec’s need to have ample time to prepare the final list of voters, which is a prerequisite for the preparation and completion of the Project of Precincts (POP), the youth and the people believe that at least a month extension would not delay that much Comelec’s preparation for the POP,” the Makabayan bloc said in House Resolution No. 2128.

“The September 30 deadline was set before the COVID-19 pandemic and it now falls upon the Comelec’s prerogative to adjust the deadline due to the ramifications of the pandemic,” it added.

But Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez earlier said that extending the voter period would cause a “domino effect.”

“You delay the end of one, and you basically delay everything else,” Jimenez said.

/MUF