File photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines — Nearly 89,000 people turned up on Feb. 12, the first day of the voter registration period set by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for next year’s midterm polls.
Based on figures released on Tuesday by the poll body’s election and barangay affairs department, more than 50,000 people applied to become registered voters in Metro Manila, Ilocos, Central Luzon, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon provinces) and Central Visayas regions.
Of the 88,999 registrants, 466 submitted their applications through Comelec’s Register Anywhere Program (RAP), in which prospective voters can register at major malls, churches, schools, and government offices in all capital cities and towns, as well as highly urbanized areas.
Most of the RAP registrants went to the Register Anywhere Program station in front of the poll body’s central office in Intramuros, Manila.
READ: Comelec launches ‘Register Anywhere’
READ: LIST: Valid IDs, procedure for voter registration on Feb. 12, 2024
In a radio interview, Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco described the turnout as “good,” adding they were confident that they would be able to reach their target of registering three million local and overseas voters for next year’s elections.
Earlier RAP deadline
He reiterated that the last day for RAP would be on Aug. 31, a month ahead of the last day for regular voters’ registration on Sept. 30, to allow for enough time to forward applicants’ documents to local Comelec offices where they intend to vote.
In another interview over dzBB, Laudiangco downplayed concerns that RAP might be used to register “flying voters.”
“Our RAP has a higher level of security because after we get their (registrants’) data, we run them through our database before we distribute them to the towns and provinces. That is why we need that one month to ensure that [there] will be no double registration,” he said.