Comelec headquarters
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced on Wednesday that voter registration will be reopened in November 2022 once the government finalizes the postponement of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) elections slated for Dec. 5, 2022.
This came after both the Senate and the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading the bills seeking to move the BSKE to Dec. 4, 2023.
“Kung hindi po tayo matutuloy ng election sa Dec. 5, 2022, tayo po ay magpaparehistro ulit ngayong Nov. 2022 up to June of 2023,” said Comelec chair George Garcia in an interview over TeleRadyo.
(If we can’t go ahead with the election in Dec. 5, 2022, we will again reopen registration this Nov. 2022 up to June of 2023.)
According to Garcia, Comelec estimates that around seven to nine million voters have yet to register for the BSKE elections, including voters with expired or deactivated registrations.
“‘Yun po ang dahilan kung bakit tataas ang gastusin kung sakasakaling marereset ang halalan natin sa susunod na taon (that is the reason why expenses will increase if our elections are reset next year),” said Garcia.
It can be recalled that a total of 2,936,979 new registrations were recorded by Comelec on July 23, in a span of only three weeks since it started on July 4.
The last BSKE was held in May 2018 after President Rodrigo Duterte signed a law to move the May 2020 BSKE to December 2022.
Garcia, however, gave assurance that Comelec remains ready for the BSKE this year, regardless of the circumstances.