Comelec sets registration guidelines for SK polls

The Commission on Elections on Friday released registration guidelines for the Sangguniang Kabataan elections set on October 29. In Resolution No 8220 promulgated July 9 and posted at the Comelec website, the poll body set the registration from July 15 to 22. Youth, aged 15 to 21 years, in each barangay (village) are mandated to elect an SK, which is comprised of a chairman, a secretary, a treasurer, and seven members. The country has about 42,000 barangays. Those qualified to register are Filipino citizens aged 15 to 18 years old on or before October 29 and actually residing in the barangay for at least six months on election day. The resolution stated that applications for registration shall be filed and heard during regular office hours at the Office of the Election Officer of the city or municipality where the applicant resides. The applicant must personally appear before the election officer and present birth certificate, baptismal certificate, school records or any other document that will establish his identity and other qualifications. He should also state his name and exact address, specifying the house number, name of the street, area, district, purok or sitio and barangay where he resides, or a brief description of his residence. The Comelec resolution said community tax certificate and certification of barangay officials shall not be honored. But in the absence of the mentioned documents, any person may, under oath, identify the applicant. However, no person shall be allowed to identify more than three applicants unless they are immediate members of his family. The resolution also states other procedures for filing of applications for registration, notice of hearing of application, challenge of right to register, approval of disapproval of application, publication of action on application of registration and preparation of the list of the voters. The Comelec also set in the resolution guidelines the for numbering of precincts, posting of preliminary list of voters, voters excluded through inadvertence or registered with an erroneous or misspelled name, petition for inclusion of voters and posting of the certified and final list of voters. -Amita Legaspi, GMANews.TV