Comelec rejects longer voters’ registration period

MANILA, Philippines — Despite its admission that ongoing moves seeking to amend the Constitution may disrupt its preparations for the 2025 midterm polls, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is determined to stick to its schedule and not extend the more than seven-month period for registering voters.

“As of now, the Comelec has not envisioned an extension of registration beyond Sept. 30, 2024, as timelines for the preparatory activities for the May 2025 [national and local elections] must necessarily be concluded as stated,” the poll body’s spokesperson, John Rex Laudiangco, told reporters on Monday.

Comelec Chair George Garcia said the voters’ registration period scheduled from Feb. 12 to Sept. 30 for next year’s elections was “crucial and critical” and already “properly studied.”

The poll body is targeting an additional three million voters this time, which will increase the voting population from 68 million to 71 million.

“Our registration period starting from February and ending in September is concise for our preparation. It is impossible to register all of those three million people in just a month or two,” Garcia said.

After undergoing pilot testing during the 2022 elections, the Register Anywhere Program (RAP) will be officially launched by the Comelec next month. This will allow it to accept applications for voter registration through RAP sites to be set up in malls, universities or government offices in all capital cities, towns, and highly urbanized cities nationwide.

The Comelec has a tight schedule of merely eight months from October to prepare for the elections on May 12, 2025.

By October, its offices in cities and municipalities nationwide shall convene as Election Registration Boards and conduct hearings to approve or disapprove applications for voter registration.

“After which, we shall proceed with the finalization of projects of precincts, which will, in turn, be the basis of procurement of election forms and supplies, the number of which must be fixed, especially on the official ballots, which must be printed one ballot per one registered voter. No room for excess,” Laudiangco said.