DUMAGUETE CITY — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Dumaguete City set up its voters’ registration booth at the Robinsons Place on Thursday for the remaining three days of registration of voters.
Lawyer Gildu Agoncillo, city election officer, said they had to transfer operations from the Comelec office to the mall to accommodate more registrants.
Agoncillo said that as always, he anticipates a long line of last-minute registrants at the satellite registration in the shopping mall from Thursday to Saturday.
“Amo na lang gihimo ang last three days of registration sa Robinsons kay dili unya mi maka accommodate sa office ug kung sa parke usab, basin unya ug mag-ulan ulan (We had to conduct the last three days of registration at Robinsons as our office may not be able to accommodate the people and if we hold it at the park, it might just rain on these days),” he said.
The voters’ registration at the mall is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m, he added.
Agoncillo also announced that there will be no more extension for the registration of voters as he urged the people not to wait for the last minute.
“Murag sige ra nga daghang last minute sa Dumaguete, surprisingly, daghang nagpa rehistro dire from other municipalities (It’s always last minute for Dumaguete, [and] surprisingly, many have transferred registration from other municipalities),” the Comelec officer said.
He said he believes that the transferees have long resided in the city but may have been voting in their hometowns “in previous elections.:
“Unya karon, naka finally decide nga dire na mu botar (they have finally decided to vote here),” Agoncillo said.
Agoncillo also said he is expecting an increase in voter figures this year.
According to him, in the 2016 elections, Dumaguete only had about 80,000 registered voters but prior to the barangay elections, the number rose to about 84,000.
This time, Agoncillo said they are expecting the number of registered voters in this provincial capital to increase to as much as 86,000 to 87,000. (Mary Judaline Partlow/PNA)
