Voter registration for 2026 BSKE resumes

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday resumed the nationwide voter registration for the 2026 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE).

Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia said the seven-month voter registration will run from October 20, 2025 to May 18, 2026.

Also to be relaunched for the 2026 BSKE is the poll body’s Special Register Anywhere Program (SRAP), which would allow eligible voters to register at the poll body’s satellite sites. 

“Magkakaroon tayo ng registration anytime naman, kung saan kahit gabi magpaparehistro tayo sa airport, hospitals, at call center areas,” Garcia told reporters. 

(We will also relaunch the registration anytime program wherein registrants can register to vote even at night. The sites will be opened at airports, hospitals, and call center areas.)

However, the poll chief reiterated that the Bangsamoro provinces would be exempted from the voter registration until after the holding of the inaugural parliamentary polls.

“Inuulit natin, wala po tayong registration muna sa Bangsamoro. Kung nandito kayo sa SRAP at taga-Bangsamoro, tatanggapin natin ang application subalit ito ay ifo-forward namin sa local Comelec pero hindi muna aaksyonan,” he said. 

(We are again reminding [the public] that there is no registration for now in Bangsamoro. If you are here at SRAP and are from Bangsamoro, we will receive your application then we'll forward it to the local Comelec. However, it will not be acted upon yet.)

“Suspended ang registration sa Bangsamoro. Walang registration sapagkat naghihintay tayo na magkaroon sila ng batas at ma-schedule na natin kung kailan ang halalan para sa Bangsamoro parliamentary elections,” he added. 

(The registration in Bangsamoro is suspended. There will be no registration in Bangsamoro because we are still waiting for a law to be passed and the schedule for parliamentary polls to be set.)

Garcia personally inspected the ongoing voter registration at one of the Comelec’s SRAP sites at the the Mabini Hall in Luneta Park in Manila.

He said the SRAP sites will be available in all capital towns and highly-urbanized cities in the country. 

The complete schedule and venues of the SRAP sites would be available on the Comelec website, he added. 

Applicants may register from Monday to Sundays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at any satellite registration sites or at their respective Comelec Office of the Election Officer (OEO), according to the poll body.

The voter registration period will likewise be opened for all types of applications including:

• transfer of records; 
• new registration;
• change of name and status;
• correction of entries;
• reactivation of registration records;
• inclusion of registration records; and 
• reinstating of name in the list of voters.

The Comelec is targeting to register 1.4 million new voters for the 2026 BSKE during the nationwide registration, Garcia added. 

Over two million Filipinos registered during the 10-day nationwide voter registration for the BSKE from August 1 to August 10, surpassing the Comelec’s goal of 1.5 million registrants. 

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in August signed into law the proposed measure seeking to postpone the BSKE from December 1, 2025 to the first Monday of November 2026, and every four years thereafter. —KG, GMA Integrated News