MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday said the number of those who registered for the barangay and sangguniang kabataan elections (BSKE) already reached one million.
Data from the Comelec showed 1,001,970 individuals nationwide have registered in the past 5 days – already hitting their target for the 10-day registration period.
Calabarzon led the regions with the most number of registrations, with 138,843. This was followed by Central Luzon (113,904), and Metro Manila (79,517).
Comelec Chairman George Garcia said they had to delete some “duplicates” from Central Luzon’s data yesterday, which hit over 200,000.
“Nadoble, kaya nag-correct sila,” he said.
Comelec sees no reason to extend 10-day voter’s registration
Because of this, Garcia said they now target to have 1.5 million applications for voter registration by Aug. 10.
“Pinakamadami [ito] sa napakaiksing panahon sa kasaysayan ng Comelec. Natutuwa kami na sa limang araw higit sa 1 million. Inaasahan natin sa mga nalalabing 5 araw ay mas dadami pa. Siguro aabot tayo ng 1.3 million hanggang 1.5 million na magpaparehistro,” Garcia told reporters.
“Target na natin ay 1.5 million. Pag na reach natin yun, talagang extraordinary na yun,” he added.
Among the factors that the Comelec sees, he said, are the Filipinos’ intent to really participate in the BSKE.
“Gusto nila may boses sila sa kung sinuman mahahalal sa barangay nila. Nakikita namin na kasama ng mga kabataan mga magulang... Ito na ang youth voters. Power ng kabataan na naipakita na nitong midterm elections,” he said.
Comelec earlier said there would be no extension for the 10-day nationwide voter’s registration for the BSKE despite its high turnout.
Voter registration for barangay, SK elections reaches nearly 900K nationwide: Comelec
Aside from the law banning any voter’s registration 120 days before an election, the poll body said they would still need to process the voter’s registration and have these sent to the offices where voters should be registered.
Select registration booths in train stations, offices, hospitals, and terminals are available at night time as part of the Commission’s special registration anywhere program.