Seven senators have urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to push the deadline for voter registration from September 30 to October 31.
Senators Francis Pangilinan, Ralph Recto, Franklin Drilon, Nancy Binay, Leila de Lima, Risa Hontiveros, and Joel Villanueva said the one-month extension would prevent the disenfranchisement of voters who have yet to register due to the imposition of strict lockdowns in Metro Manila and other areas of the country.
In the filing a resolution on Thursday, August 12, they said voter registration has been suspended for over five months because of the pandemic, with longer suspensions in areas placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and modified ECQ.
Citing figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on the country's voting population, they said some 13.3 million potential voters are still not registered for next year's elections.
They said the Comelec may not have anticipated the COVID-19 pandemic when it set the September 30 deadline for the 2022 registration.
In appealing for the extension, he lawmakers said the Comelec, as the Supreme Court (SC) had acknowledged, has the prerogative to set the deadline of voter registration but not within the 120-day period before the elections.
They also pointed out that the poll body, in past elections, had set deadlines even beyond October 31 of the year.
"While it is important for Comelec to have enough time to prepare the final list of voters...a one-month extension will not duly unhamper or delay Comelec's preparation," said the senators.
The Comelec, they appealed, "must make the necessary adjustments to allow more unregistered potential voters to register."
The proposed Senate resolution is expected to be taken up in the chamber when sessions resume next week.
On Thursday, a coalition of youth groups have also appealed to the Comelec to extend voter's registration by at least a month in areas affected by COVID-19 lockdowns.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez earlier said the en banc has not discussed the possibility of extending the voter registration period.