Comelec headquarters in Intramuros, Manila.
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has already surpassed its target to register 1.5 million new voters in time for the Oct. 30 village and youth elections, with a week left before voter registration ends on Jan. 31.
As of Jan. 22, a total of 1,537,872 voter applications have been filed nationwide since the registration resumed on Dec. 12.
The Comelec had projected to receive 1.5 million to 2 million applications in the latest round of voter registration leading to the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections on Oct. 30.
“We are on target of the projection of at least 1.5 million new voters,” Comelec Chair George Garcia said on Monday after signing a “register anywhere” agreement with Edu Punay, officer in charge of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).Garcia reiterated that the Comelec would not extend the deadline for voter registration.
“We will stick to the Jan. 31 deadline. It is really not a good idea to always extend once there is a deadline set,” he said.
So far, 1,530,317 applications have been filed in regular voter registration sites while 7,555 applications have been filed in select “register anywhere” project sites like the one put up at the DSWD main office in Quezon City.
First-time voter applicants have so far reached 930,876 voters, comprising of 442,330 teenagers 15 to 17 years old; 397,323 adults 18 to 30 years old; and 86,818 adults 31 years old and older.
One has to be at least 18 years old to vote, but the Sangguniang Kabataan special election is open to Filipinos who are 15 to 30 years old.
Aside from new voters, the Comelec also received applications for reactivation, transfer of voting place and correction of entries in the list of voters.
The House of Representatives has also joined the Comelec’s “register anywhere” project to allow lawmakers, employees, their dependents and relatives to file applications for voters registration at the House complex.
House Speaker Martin Romualdez and Garcia on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding for the “register anywhere” project.