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Lower House budget debates: Comelec agrees to extend voters registration for 30 days
Lower House budget debates: Comelec agrees to extend voters registration for 30 days
The Commission on Election blinked first as it declared on Tuesday, Sept. 28 a decision to call an en banc session to approve congressional proposal to extend by another 30 days the period for registration of voters.
The announcement was made in the House of Representatives plenary hall before congressmen prepared to deliberate on the proposed 2022 budget of the poll body.
First District Surigao del Norte Rep. Francisco Matugas II, who defended the Comelec’s budget, made the announcement on the Comelec’s impending decision.
“Before we proceed for the interpellation, may I ask permission to share a bit of good news to this august chamber, all members of Congress and the public in general that the Comelec will be approving tomorrow the extension of the voters registration until October 31,” stated Matugas, vice chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations.
He quipped:“I hope na wala na pong mag-interpellate sa budget Comelec.” Present during the virtual plenary session were the poll body’s commissioners led by Chairman Sheriff Abas; Commissioners Rowena V. Guanzon, Soccoro B. Inting, Marlon Casquejo and Antonio T. Kho Jr.
The Lower House deliberated on the proposed P26.97 billion Comelec budget for 2022, an election year.
Matugas said the Department of Budget and Management slashed the original Comelec budget proposal by P15 billiion.
The impending Comelec decision to extend the registration period from September 30- to October 31 was apparently triggered by the passage by both the Lower House and the Senate of a bill mandating the extension.
Previous to this, election officials ignored resolutions adopted by the two legislative chamber urging Comelec to heed the appeal to give additional days for registration.
Lawmakers decried the Comelec snub as they warned of massive voters disenfranchisement should the poll body decide to totally ignore Congress. They pointed out that there has been low registration turnout because of the public health threat of COVID-19.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show that 73 million voters are qualified to participate in the May 2022 polls.
The Comelec has reported that as of last August 23, there are around 61 million registered voters in the country. This could mean that there are still around 12 million eligible Filipinos who have yet to registered by then.