The Senate on Monday, September 27, approved on third and final reading the bill that is expected to compel the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to extend deadline of voter registration for the 2022 national and local elections.
Senators, voting 23-0-0, unanimously gave their nod to Senate Bill No. 2408, which seeks to prolong the period of voter registration for another month.
The bill was passed following the Comelec's refusal to extend the registration period, with senators agreeing that the poll body needed to be compelled to move the deadline.
Later, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, main sponsor of the bill, moved that the upper chamber adopt the House of Representatives’ version of the bill, which says that the last day of registration will be 30 days from the effectivity of the proposed measure, instead of specifying October 31.
The adoption will allow the legislature to do away with the bicameral conference committee meeting and expedite its transmittal for President Duterte's signature.
House Bill No.10261 has been approved on third reading also Monday.
"We're hoping that the President will sign this into law, give our people the chance to register some more," Zubiri said after the Senate's adoption of the House version.
Senator Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara said the Comelec, however, said he was informed by Comelec chairman Sheriff Abas that the one-month extension would not be feasible.
"He told me that mahirapan daw talaga ang Comelec (the Comelec would really have a hard time) with the one-month extension," Angara quoted Abas, reiterating that the poll body can only accommodate a one-week extension.
Angara asked his colleagues to consider a compromise with the Comelec, saying: "Suffrage is the ultimate expression of democracy, but we also have to think also of some of the practicalities in this day."
Senators previously said that the one-month extension would prevent the disenfranchisement of 12 million eligible voters.
In the bill, they stressed that almost six months of the registration period was lost when the pandemic began and the country was under stringent lockdowns, with other areas experiencing extended lockdowns.
The Comelec, they added, set the September 30 deadline for the registration before the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Comelec could not have anticipated the adverse impact of the pandemic on voter registration and must make the necessary adjustments to allow more unregistered potential voters to register. In fact, voter registration was suspended several times due to the adverse effect of COVID-19,” the senators said.
Senators deferred their deliberations of the Comelec's 2022 budget due to the refusal to extend the registration deadline.
Earlier, the Senate and House approved resolutions requesting the extension of voter registration but the Comelec to no avail.