No need to extend registration

Finally the Commission on Elections closed its office to voter’s registration last October 31st at 5  p.m. with no extension. They already gave the public  enough opportunity to register.

The Kabataan party-list  decided to  seek the intervention of the Supreme Court to order the Comelec to extend the registration period to Jan.  12, 2013.

The Comelec frowns on any extension because it needs several months  to prepare for the May 2013 polls which involves the tedious task of cleaning  voter’s lists of double or multiple registrants.

I humbly submit that the Supreme Court should not give due course to the petition of the Kabataan party-list. The people had more than enough time, two years including holidays and Saturdays, to sign up.

It’s about time the  Supreme Court  teaches people that  exercising one’s rights  comes with responsibility.

With two years to sign up why did thousands still wait until the last week to register as voters? Many were angry with the long lines and slow pace of the registration, when they could have gone much earlier and avoided the inconvenience.

I transferred my registration from Talisay City to Cebu City’s south district early this year.  It only took me  15 minutes to finish the process. I also enjoyed the exercise because I had the office all to myself and enjoyed the cool air-conditioning.

The  Comelec staff was  helpful and very accommodating, working  with a smile. But it’s typical for many Filipinos to wait for the last minute. We should stop this  wrong practice.

We never learn our lesson about the need to be on time, despite the  despite the downside of registering late.   The Comelec should be granted  precious time to prepare well for the 2013 election so that they won’t be blamed for any fiasco arising from inadequate preparation.

The Supreme Court should make use of their judicial wisdom to teach our people to register early and not to extend the registration period. Late deadline beaters  slept on their rights and should bear the consequence of their non-action.

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I am happy to see Comelec chairman Sixto Brilliantes showing  political will  especially when the Comelec en banc finally decided to cleanse  party-list groups. In the past few weeks, the poll body has disqualified several groups.

Some  party-list groups with elected members in the House of Representatives were disqualified by the Comelec from joining the 2013 election because they don’t  represent any marginalized sector in accordance with the definition of the law.

Many groups just sprouted and named themselves  party-list groups falsely claiming to  represent an underprvileged sector.

The system has bastardized or abused especially during the time of former Comelec chairman  Benjamin Abalos.

Former presidential son Mikey Arroyo became the no. 1 representatvie  of Ang Galing Pinoy party list group representing security guards and farmers. Even leaders of the party list objected to his inclusion  before the Comelec but the Comelec gave due course to the application of Congressman Mikey Arroyo.

Recently Comelec disqualified the Ang Galing Pinoy party-list together with a number of other party-lists groups from the list that can participate in the 2013 elections.

The Comelec is also screening applicants to the party-list contest to verify their qualificatons.  Many are happy with the reforms being caried out even though they come late in the day.