The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it will study proposals to extend the voters' registration which will end on Sept. 30.
“Yes. We already instructed the law department to conduct a study on this,” Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo told the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms in a hearing after being asked by Kabataan Partylist Representative Sarah Elago whether the poll body will reconsider the extension of voters' registration.
Representatives from the youth and student sectors also raised local issues concerning the voters' registration and called for its extension during the hearing.
Kabataan, Tayo ang Pag-asa (KTAP) Head Convener Calvin Almazan mentioned that a Comelec office in Bacolod was closed for almost three weeks due to COVID-19. The same office, accoridng to reports received by Almazan, would only accept 200 registrants per day and would close after meeting their quota.
Citing a news report, Jandeil Roperos, Deputy Secretary-General for Campaigns and Advocacies of National Union of Students of the Philippines, said almost "18 months of voters' registration were lost in some areas due to lockdown.”
Roperos added that based on data, 73.3 million are the projected eligible voters for the upcoming elections. Comelec said there are already 61 million registered voters as of fourth week of August, which means there are still around 12 million individuals who have yet to register, Roperos said.
Elago, for her part, asked why the Comelec didn't extend the voters' registration despite strong calls for it.
“What's stopping Comelec from allowing the exteniton of at least one month. One month lang po 'yan kumpara sa 164 days na nawala dahil po sa pag sasara ng mga voters registration (That's just one month comapre tot he 164 days that were lost because of the closure of the voters registration),” Elago said.
Casquejo said the commission rejected the extension due to the “technical aspects” of their preparation for the May 2022 national and local elections.
Elago, however, said she doesn't see “technical preparation” as a reason for Comelec to strip away the chance for the 12 million eligible voters to register.
“Yung isang buwan na extension ng resgistration pasok pa rinpo yan sa ni-re-require ng ating batas na 120 days na preparation time bago ang date ng halalan. Kaya nakikita natin dito na walang malalabag na batas at nasa discretion po ng Comelec talaga at yung tehcnical preparation kaya po makatulong diyan ang Kongreso (The one month extention is still covered in the 120 days preparation time before election as required by the law. That's why we don't see any violation of the law here and it's really the discretion of the Comelec and the technical preparation, the Congress can help with that)," Elago said.
“Di po natin dapat isakripisyo yung karapatan sa pag boto at karapatan sa pag pili ng mga susunod na lider (We should not scarifice the right to vote and the right to choose the next leaders),” she added.