Comelec preparing registration centers in churches

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is getting ready to put up satellite registration centers in churches nationwide to encourage more people to register and vote in the 2016 national elections.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said the poll body is drafting a resolution mandating the conduct of satellite voter registration every Sunday.

“Not inside the churches probably, but outside yet within the churches’ vicinity,” he said.

He said that holding registration near churches would be effective in encouraging voters, particularly those in the provinces.

“Preferably, we want to implement it in the provinces not exactly in Metro Manila because in the provinces, there are only a few churches so most of the residents really go there on Sundays,” he explained.

Brillantes added that with registration set to be held in churches, it is now highly unlikely for the Comelec to cancel its ongoing Sunday operations.

Earlier, the Comelec set the voter registration from Sunday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in all Offices of Election Officers nationwide until October 31, 2015. Comelec Commissioner Grace Padaca said that registration during Sundays may be discontinued if it does not get enough interest from the public.

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) urged Filipinos bound for work abroad to register as overseas voters for the 2016 elections.

The DFA said outbound Filipinos may register at the Overseas Voter Registration Center (OVRC) at the agency’s Office of Consular Affairs located at the ASEANA Business Park along Macapagal Avenue in Parañaque City.

 All Filipino citizens who are at least 18 years old on May 9, 2016 and who expect to be abroad during the 30-day overseas voting period, from April 9 to May 9, 2016, may register at all Philippine Foreign Service Posts, the DFA said.

“Filipino immigrants and overseas Filipino workers, including seafarers, who are about to travel abroad and are not yet registered overseas voters, may now register at the OVRC,” the department said.

 “Their overseas voter registration stub will also allow them access to the Passport Division’s Courtesy Lane, removing the need for appointment in applying for passport renewal,” it added.

 The DFA also has plans to open OVRCs in the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency, Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Commission on Filipinos Overseas, and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

The department is also looking at opening OVRCs in Passport Satellite offices in the National Capital Region and at the Regional Consular offices in Cebu and Davao. – With Helen Flores