ILOILO City – The community quarantine meant to curb coronavirus disease is keeping people from registering for the May 2022 elections.
According to Jonathan Sayno, Iloilo City’ assistant election officer, since February 2020 when voters’ registration resumed (but had several interruptions due to the quarantine) they were able to accommodate only 12,000 new registrants – way below the target.
The city Commission on Elections (Comelec) projected to register between 17,686 to 23,582 new voters or six to eight percent of the 294,776 total registered voters during the 2019 elections.
Around 10,000 to 12,000 more registrants are needed. But this depends on the city’s quarantine classification, Sayno said.
Registration is suspended once an area is under a modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) or ECQ.
The voter registration here has been suspended since May 23, 2021.
Several lawmakers filed resolutions calling for a voter registration extension to at least Oct. 31 (from the original Sept. 30 deadline) as stricter community lockdowns may have kept possible voters from registering. But Comelec decided to just extend the voter registration hours.
Beginning Aug. 23, the poll body will accept voter applications from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. (from the previous 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) Mondays to Fridays, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and holidays.
The schedule will apply to areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified GCQ.
Sayno said the commission could not allow an extension, citing their calendar of activities.
“Kon another 30 days ma-extend ang Comelec indi maka-start imprinta sang balota. Ginahulat ‘ni sia, once kon mag-deadline na, maka- come up na ‘ta as to the total number of registered voters – amo ‘na sia ang basis sang pag-imprinta sang balota,” Sayno explained.
Also, they have to release the so-called “Project of Precincts” that identifies each clustered precinct and its corresponding polling place/polling center and assigned voters.
“Dira ta mabal-an kon pila ka precinct ang ma-function sa every barangay, every city,” Sayno said. “Dira man kita naga-allocate sang number sang voting machines nga gamiton.”
Sayno also noted that the filing of certificates of candidacy is also nearing, which is from Oct. 1 to 8.
“Kon i-extend ang voter registration, daku gid ang time nga mauyang, basi kulangon sang tiempo,” he said.
Sayno said registered Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) during the 2018 barangay elections who already reached 18 years old will be automatically included in the list of regular voters, thus there’s no need for them to register./PN