CEBU, Philippines- Over a hundred thousand of the 2.4 million registered voters in Cebu might be disenfranchised come 2016 national and local elections for lack or absence of biometric records.
With only more than two months left before the October 31, 2015 deadline of the filing of voter registration-related applications, a total of 135,734 voters have yet to comply with the biometric requirements as of July 20, 2015.
The figure is at least 4.6 percent of the 2,452,295 registered voters in the province, including the highly-urbanized cities.
Under Republic Act 10367 (An Act Providing for Mandatory Biometrics Voter Registration), voters who fail to submit the biometrics data will be deactivated from the voters’ list and not be allowed to vote.
Based on data of the Commission on Elections-Cebu, however, the number of registered voters with incomplete or without biometrics has shrunk from 163,759 recorded in the April 20, 2015 hearing of the Election Registration Board.
In an interview with The FREEMAN, Comelec-Cebu election officer Ferdinand Gujilde described the reduction as a welcome development, attributing it to their intensified information drive.
“This means nga effective atong campaign, atong na-intensify through the help sa media,” he said.
He said they have gone beyond their target of reducing the remaining number of registered voters without biometrics to at least five percent.
“As much as possible, zero percent unta ta, tanan makwaan gyod og biometrics. It is the voters’ responsibility. The Comelec, for its part, have provided them easy access to biometric registration,” he said.
He mentioned the holding of satellite voter registration as among the poll body’s effort to reach out to the public. The off-site registration ends next month, he said.
Earlier, Comelec launched the biometrics registration status checking online. Registered voters simply need to access the Comelec’s website,www.comelec.gov.ph., then click Voter Registration tab and Without/Incomplete Biometrics to find out if he or she has to undergo validation procedures (use the Precinct Finder for the list of registered voters).
If a registered voter’s name appears in the list, this means that his or her biometric data are either incomplete or absent.
Gujilde said the number of registered voters without biometrics may still be significantly reduced in the last few weeks before the deadline, which is a “usual scenario.”
In normal days, Comelec offices in highly-urbanized cities can accommodate 300 transactions per biometric data capturing machine, he added.
Biometrics registration records voter’s digital photograph, signature and fingerprints. (FREEMAN)