Biometric registration: Voters reminded anew not to wait for the deadline

CEBU, Philippines - The Commission on Elections reiterated its reminder for the voting public not to wait for the last day of the biometric registration next month to register as new voters since not all of them might be accommodated.

 Comelec-Cebu election supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano raised concern on the possibility that people might flock on the last day of the biometric registration as their poll offices may not be able to cater to all of them due to the limited data capturing machines.

As of July 20, 2015, a total of 135,734 voters have yet to comply with the biometric requirements, which is at least 4.6 percent of the 2,452,295 registered voters in the province, including the highly-urbanized cities.

Local statistics show that there are 120,469 voters without biometrics while 15,265 have incomplete biometrics data. In July 2013, there were 2,588,029 registered voters.

Castillano said that the number of data capturing machines have not increased in each of their poll offices.

He said that each computer can accommodate to a maximum of 200 voters, adding that poll offices in cities have three computers while other municipalities only have one.

“Ang problema kon sa last day moadto ang 500 ka botante, di gyud na mahurot. Wa pud mi kahibawo if mo-extend mi sa last day until 12 midnight or taman ra mi 5 p.m.. Hinaut unta di na magpaabot ang mga botante sa last day,” he said.

Castillano also advised local government officers to start working on the biometric registration of their constituents now.

“Karon nagkaduol na, dira ra molihok,” he said.

 Castillano also expressed concern on the voters of the third district of Cebu with incomplete biometrics since the Comelec has not yet updated the voting history of the residents.

 He said the registration records of the voters were sent to the House of Representative Electoral Tribunal for the election protests and were not yet returned to them until now.

 “Atong election officers wala nakapanangtang sa failure to vote twice. Mag-update man unta sa voting history ana,” he said.

 Castillano cited some of the voters may have already died or may have transferred to another place and their records were not updated in their respective municipalities.

 He also said that there are still municipalities and cities such as Mandaue and Toledo that still have high number of voters without biometrics.

 However, Castillano said that the figures have been improving since they started with around 220,000 voters without biometrics data.

 Such improvement, he said, could be attributed to the off-site registrations in municipalities, cities, and even inside malls that prove to be effective.

 He said the satellite registration inside malls also proved to be convenient for voters to update their biometrics.

Castillano further announced that they have extended their off-site registration in barangays until September and also the satellite registration in malls until October to reach out to a wider public who have not yet undergone biometric registration.

Castillano also said the public can check their biometrics registration status online through the Comelec’s website, www.comelec.gov.ph.

He further advised those on the nationwide list of voters without or incomplete biometrics to head to the local offices and comply with the biometrics requirements.

The public can also check the list of the confirmed schedules of satellite registration centers in malls through the Comelec website.

Local Comelec offices are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Mondays to Saturdays.  (FREEMAN)