Comelec: Satellite registration offices being set up in COVID-free areas

The Commission on Elections on Friday said satellite registration offices are being set up in areas with zero number of COVID-19 cases, as part of the poll body's drive to raise the number of registered voters for Eleksyon 2022.

In its second media conference for this election season, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez likewise said the poll body is cultivating partnerships with different organizations for voter education and registration campaigns.

“I think these efforts will be cumulative and nakikita natin na tumataas ang bilang ng registrants natin" (we see a rise in the number of registrants), Jimenez said.

At the same time, we are opening satellite registration offices all over the country, he added.

However, these satellite offices are not established in areas with high number of COVID-19 cases.

“One of the standards for setting up the satellite registration offices is that there must be zero cases [in areas] where it will be held in the last 14 days prior to the registration event,” he pointed out.

According to Jimenez, no satellite office is being set up in the National Capital Region due to high rate of COVID-19 infections.

He said: “Medyo di natin napapansin  ito sa NCR dahil dito mayroon tayong issue tungkol sa dami ng COVID cases.” 

Jimenez urged the public to visit the Comelec Facebook page for information on about satellite registration events.

Early this week, Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon told "The Mangahas Interview" TV program that millions of Filipinos have yet to register for the coming polls.

She noted that there are around four million Filipinos who will be 18 years old by May 9, 2022. So far, there are 3.5 million new voters who already registered with the Comelec.

Guanzon also stressed the need to encourage seven million Filipinos to register, after their names were erased from Comelec’s registry for their failure to vote in two consecutive elections. 

“Sa seven million, 300,000 lang ang nagrehistro uli, so napakalaking kawalan ‘yun sa ating bansa. Iyong 6.7 million na na-delete ay sana bumalik kayo uli,” she said.

(Of the seven million, only 300,000 have registered again. So that is a big loss to our country. We hope the 6.7 million will register again for the next polls.)

Section 27 of the RA 8189 or the Voter's Registration Act of 1996, which provides for the grounds for deactivation of voters' registration, says that the Election Registration Board "shall deactivate the registration and remove the registration records" of any person "who did not vote in the two (2) successive preceding regular elections as shown by their voting records." —LBG, GMA News