Voters who failed to participate in at least two consecutive polls may now reactivate their data at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) through a special listup window dubbed “Register Anywhere Project (RAP).”
The Comelec on Thursday said it would expand the coverage of RAP to include inactive voters, while allowing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and priority groups such as senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs) to update their voter registration records.
Mall booths
Covered by the project are OFWs who intend to return to the Philippines and vote in the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections set for October this year.
RAP booths are open on weekends from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at five shopping malls in Metro Manila: SM City Fairview in Quezon City, SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City, SM City Sucat in Parañaque City, Robinsons Place in Manila, and Robinsons Galleria also in Quezon City.
The Comelec will also set up special registration desks at the main office of the Government Service Insurance System (Jan. 13 and Jan. 16-20), the Senate (on Jan. 25) and the House of Representatives (Jan. 25-26).
Outside Metro Manila, voters may register via RAP at SM City in Legazpi City, Robinsons Mall in Naga City, and Robinson’s Mall in Tacloban City.
The Comelec said the project initially accommodated only new voters and those who wanted to transfer their registration to another area.
The regular voter listup will be up to Jan. 31, while RAP —which the Comelec considered an experimental project —will be open up to Jan. 22.
Target number of voters
In a radio interview on Thursday, Comelec Chair George Garcia said the poll body was considering opening the RAP to more areas across the country.
Around 400,000 individuals had registered as voters since the listup campaign that started on Dec. 17 last year, Garcia said.
But the current total is still just a fraction of the Comelec target of around 1.5 million to 2 million new voters.
“You know how Filipinos are… they would postpone until the last few days, causing long queues in precincts,” Garcia said.