HEEDING the call of the public and Congress, the Commission on Elections yesterday extended the voter registration period from October 11 to 30.
Under the original schedule, the list-up is supposed to end at the end of office hours today, Thursday.
There will be no registration from October 1-8 to give way to the filing of certificates of candidacy at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex.
“Extension is from October 11 to 30; Mondays to Fridays, and no Saturdays, except for the last day on October 30,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said in a virtual media conference, adding that registration will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Comelec decision came two days after the House of Representatives and the Senate approved a bill seeking to compel the poll body to extend by one month the voter registration period.
Jimenez said satellite voter registration activities in shopping malls will also continue during the extension period.
Overseas voter registration has also been extended for two more weeks — from October 1 to 14.
Speaker Lord Allan Velasco thanked the poll body for heeding the call of Congress and the public to give voters more time to register and vote in next year’s polls.
“We thank the Comelec for seeing the wisdom of extending the voter registration to allow more Filipinos to exercise their right of suffrage, which is one of the most important rights and responsibilities we have as citizens of the Philippines,” Velasco said.
The poll body had initially been hesitant in extending the voter registration period due to its tight preparation schedule.
“As with any planning, we have a slack time, an allowance. Basically, what this means is we are going to dip into that slack time. We are going to do some things but on a much shorter time,” said Jimenez.
Comelec chief Sheriff Abas said they expect about 300,000 potential voters to benefit from the extension of the registration period.
The Comelec said there are currently 63,364,932 registered voters, with around five million being new registrants. — With Wendell Vigilia
