Comelec says: Central new registrants exceed expectations
CEBU, Philippines — The total number of applications for new voters in Central has exceeded expectations, after it reached 175,980 registrations for the whole duration of the voter’s registration from December 12, 2002 to January 31, 2023.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Acting Regional Director Lionel Marco Castillano said he was just expecting around 150,000 total applications at the end of the registration.
Most of the applicants are coming from Cebu with 111,912, followed by Bohol with 31,600; Negros Oriental had 29,826, and Siquijor with 2,642.
Some of these figures are under the Sangguniang Kabataan.
During the final day of registration, Castillano said everything was “very manageable,” except for Lapu-Lapu and Cebu City’s first district which went beyond the 5 p.m. cut-off.
Castillano noted that it is a “perennial” thing for Lapu-Lapu to register at the last minute while for Cebu City, their encoders in the first district were said to be slower than the ones assigned in the second district.
No extension of registration was announced.
At present, there is a pending petition that election lawyer Romulo Macalintal filed asking the Supreme Court to postpone the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
If the Supreme Court favors Macalintal, the BSKE will be done in May.
Else, it is going to take place on October 30, following its postponement last December 2022.
Over seven million voters are expected to cast their votes for the upcoming polls.
Data from the Comelec-Central Visayas showed that as of August 1 last year, the number of registered voters in Region 7 is at 7,266,275 wherein 1.9 million are SK voters and 5.3 million are for barangay polls.
This excludes the newly processed application of voters for the upcoming BSKE this October.
During the last day of registration period on January 31, the Comelec-7 has recorded 32,177 applications processed wherein 6,802 are from Bohol; 19,631 are from Cebu; 5,125 are from Negros Oriental and 619 are from Siquijor. — Caecent No-ot Magsumbol, GAN (FREEMAN)
- Latest
