Comelec backpedals on satellite voter registration in churches

Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr.: Not inside but outside churches. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–The Commission on Elections (Comelec) appears to have backpedaled on its stance against holding satellite voter registration in churches on Sundays as proposed by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), its citizen arm.

Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. said the commission was drafting a resolution allowing satellite voter registration on Sundays in churches across the country to draw more people to enlist for the 2016 elections.

“We are preparing a resolution encouraging voter registration in churches—not inside, but outside, within the church’s vicinity,” said Brillantes in a recent interview.

PPCRV chair Henrietta de Villa earlier said the Comelec was unlikely to grant their proposal to put up satellite registration desks in churches.

De Villa said some Comelec officials cited the separation of church and state in thumbing down the proposal, while others said satellite registration was already being conducted in barangays (villages).

“She may have gotten the wrong impression that we were not for it,” Brillantes said.

But he added that putting up registration centers in churches would be more applicable in the provinces.–Jocelyn R. Uy