17 cities exempted from suspension of Sunday voter’s registration

MANILA, Philippines - Seventeen cities in various provinces have been exempted from the suspension of voter’s registration during Sundays, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said yesterday.

Based on Comelec Resolution 9889, the 17 cities are Angeles, Bacolod, Baguio, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, General Santos, Iligan, Iloilo, Lapu-Lapu, Lucena, Mandaue, Olongapo, Puerto Princesa, Tacloban and Zamboanga.

Metro Manila is already exempted from the suspension. 

To allow workers to register during Sundays, the Comelec earlier adjusted the “registration workweek” from Monday until Friday to Sunday until Thursday.

The poll body however observed a low turnout of registrants during these days, except in 17 cities and in Metro Manila. 

This prompted the Comelec to revert the registration workweek to Monday until Friday, starting Aug. 18, “inclusive of holidays, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.” 

Data showed for the first two months of the registration, only around 500,000 have registered. The figure is way below the 800,000 target.

The Comelec directed its field offices to render overtime work during Saturdays, exclusively for the conduct of mandatory satellite registration and validation of records, except in Lanao del Sur.

The poll body reiterated its call for some 9.4 million registered voters, whose biometric data have yet to be taken, to visit the local Comelec offices to validate their registration or be unable to vote in 2016.