The Commission on Elections will decide in an en banc meeting today whether to extend the registration of voters for the October 28 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, COMELEC Commissioner Grace Padaca said yesterday.

Provincial Elections Supervisor Jessie Suarez said it is not just the COMELEC office in Bacolod City that is being swamped by voter registrants, it is the same problem in all the towns and cities of Negros Occidental, except for Don Salvador Benedicto.

He said police assistance has been sought to ensure the peaceful and orderly registration process, especially on the last day, today.

Suarez said he is appealing to local officials, especially those in the barangays, not to interfere in the work of the COMELEC.

The matter of crowd control is a police matter, it is not for local officials to interfere in, he said.

While he believes that an extension of registration is needed, Suarez said, “Let us leave the decision on the matter to the wisdom of the Commission en banc.”

Padaca said they instructed the COMELEC Barangay Affairs Department to make recommendations to the Commission, amid numerous requests for an extension of the registration of voters.

The request of Bacolod officials for an extension of the registration is not unique, they have received numerous other appeals from local officials in other areas and election officers in the field since last week, Padaca said.

“It is not the policy of the present COMELEC to extend things like this because we are working on a calendar,” she said. They need the figures of the number of new registrants so they can prepare the ballots and determine how many teachers will be needed to serve on election day, she added.

She said that, in the regular COMELEC steering committee meeting for the October 28 elections, the poll commissioners instructed the Barangay Affairs Department to give them recommendations on whether their calendar of activities can allow an extension of registration.

Meanwhile, she said the COMELEC promulgated Friday last week Resolution No. 9750, to allow registrants who are 18 years old on or before the October 28 polls, to queue in an express lane for elderly, persons with disabilities and heavily pregnant applicants.

“It is essential to provide an opportunity for first-time voters - who are 18 years old on or before the October 28, 2013 Barangay and SK Elections - to be able to register as voters and to participate in the elections,” the COMELEC said in the resolution.

The COMELEC observed, however, that the huge influx of registrants at the Offices of the Election Officers are not first time voters, but registered voters who desire to apply for the transfer of their registrations to other barangays, Padaca said.

The poll body also noted that some applicants bring PNP clearances, which are easy to obtain, to have a valid document as proof of their identity to have their applications for registration/transfer accepted, she said.

In order to maximize the participation of first-time voters, in accordance with the primary purpose of the system of the continuing registration of voters, the COMELEC has ruled to exclude PNP Clearance from the list of valid documents as proof of identity, she said.

Padaca said those who voted in the May polls and wish to transfer their voting areas for the October 28 elections should be rejected as they must have at least six months of residency in the areas where they vote.

She said the report reaching their office is that people, who have been hauled in by “coordinators” of some political groups, are the ones clogging the registration areas.

If no extension of registration is granted, registration to vote in the 2016 elections can be done after the October polls are over, Padaca added.*CPG

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