REGISTRATION. Personnel of the Commission on Elections in Iloilo City attend to applicants during the resumption of the registration on Sept. 6, 2021. Election Assistant Jonathan Sayno said on Wednesday (Sept. 8, 2021) they expect 12,000 more registrants until Sept. 30, 2021. (Photo courtesy of Jonathan Sayno)
ILOILO CITY – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Iloilo City will hold satellite registrations starting September 10, eyeing to reach an additional 12,000 eligible voters.
Registration in Iloilo City resumed on September 6 after it was suspended since May 24 after this metro was placed under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).
“We resumed since Comelec has already allowed us in response to complaints that a lot have yet to register,” Election Assistant Jonathan Sayno said in an interview on Wednesday.
On September 10-11, they will be at SM City; September 13-14, Robinsons Mall at the City Proper District; September 15, Ateneo de Iloilo; September 16-17, persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology male and female dormitories; September 18, University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) Iloilo City campus; and September 20 at the University of Iloilo.
During the satellite activity, the Comelec will not entertain registrants visiting their office on the second floor of the Iloilo Terminal Market.
“(But) our rule is that no full-face shield, no face mask, no registration,” he said.
The registration is open to new voters, transfer applications from outside or within Iloilo City, reactivation, correction of entry by virtue of marriage, or misspelled name.
He added that it would be better if registrants download and accomplish the application forms and health declaration card from the Comelec website so they would just affix their signatures and have their biometrics captured when they go to the registration venue.
From the start of the registration in February 2020 until the Election Registration Board hearing in June 2021, they have registered and approved 12,000 new applicants, Sayno said.
The city has more than 305,000 voters as of June 2021.
He noted that the September 30 deadline would not be extended, otherwise, their calendar or pre-election activities would be disrupted.
The voters' registration will serve as the basis for coming up with the number of precincts that should function and ballots that need to be printed in preparation for next year’s elections. (PNA)
