Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 24) – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is giving another look at calls for a longer voter registration period – with just days left before the Sept. 30 deadline.
This, after poll officials got a scolding from senators during what should have been a hearing for Comelec’s budget next year.
The poll body was unable to present its budget proposal as the lawmakers immediately zeroed in on the tug-of-war to extend the registration deadline.
With no commitment to the extension from Comelec, Senators Francis Pangilinan and Franklin Drilon both moved to defer discussions on its 2022 spending plan.
“I would like to support the Comelec but in this matter of voter registration, the rights of voters come first,” Pangilinan said. “Voting is the bedrock of any democracy, and this is anti-democratic to say the least.”
Meanwhile, Drilon raised a possible illegality in Comelec’s decision, citing Republic Act 8189 or the Voter’s Registration Act of 1996, which allows continuing registration up to January, or 120 days before election day.
“What you are insisting on is a clear voting suppression rule… Sa akin ho, labag sa batas ang inyong ginagawa [To me, what you are doing is illegal],” Drilon told Comelec Chairman Sheriff Abas.
But the poll body wouldn’t budge.
“Mawalang-galang na po talaga, one week lang po talaga ang kaya naming ibigay. Mahirap mag-commit, your honors, na papalpak po kami in the end. Kami rin ang masisisi,” Abas said. “Kung meron lang kaming leeway of time, hindi naman kami maghihintay na hihingi pa kayo. Pero wala po kaming time, medyo delikado po talaga.”
[Translation: With all due respect, we can only really give one week. It’s hard to commit, your honors, only for us to fail in the end and we will be blamed. If we only had the leeway of time, we won’t wait for you to ask for us to grant that. But we don’t have time, it’s critical.]
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate are working on bills to extend the registration deadline to October 31. Comelec earlier said if the law is passed, they would have no choice but comply.
Abas added that preparations for the May 9 polls could be severely delayed, including the division of voters per precinct and the loading of data to every vote counting machine, which should be finished by mid-December.
Senators bargained with Comelec for a second day, now only asking for a three-week reprieve from October 9 to 31 and giving way to the filing of candidacies. They said this is similar to the registration deadlines for the 2013 and 2016 polls.
On Friday afternoon, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez announced that top-level poll officials will meet next week to discuss if a longer registration period is doable and by how long, to be recommended to the en banc.
“We still maintain that our timelines make it very difficult for us to actually have an extension. However, we are going the extra mile precisely because we hear the clamor of the people,” Jimenez told reporters in a briefing. He added that COVID-19 infections among field personnel are also a big challenge to registration activities.
“The ManCom (management committee) will game out the scenarios of extension,” Jimenez said. “If the ManCom decides that the extension is not feasible, then the recommendation will be no extension. But it will be an effort to look at every possible scenario.”
The final decision is expected on Wednesday – just a day before the Sept. 30 deadline.
Some 63.8 million Filipinos are eligible to vote next year as of Sept. 21, with more lining up daily hoping to cast their ballots on May 9.
Even Comelec’s targets for new registrations were questioned by senators, who said setting a 4-million goal is too low against about 12 million voters who may be disenfranchised.
The Senate said it will only tackle the Comelec budget when it has reconsidered pleas for a longer registration period.
READ: Comelec’s 2022 budget request trimmed by ₱15B, higher voter turnout eyed
