MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday said there will be no extension of the voters registration period which is set to end on September 29.
“Voter registration will end tomorrow, no extension considering that we’ve been doing this since July. Prior to that, nagkaroon na tayo ngregistration na nagtapos noong November 2017 (we already held a registration which ended in November 2017),” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in a press conference.
He also reminded those who will be submitting their applications or deadline beaters on Saturday to be patient as more people are expected to register.
“We call on the public to exercise patience as long queues are to be expected at the last day of registration,” Jimenez said.
“I just hope that the people who will come to register tomorrow will be aware na talagang mahaba ang pila (there will be long lines) and that there will probably people who might not get the results that they want,” he added.
The local Comelec office will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to accept applications for registration, transfer/transfer with reactivation, reactivation, change/correction of entries and inclusion/reinstatement of records.
Jimenez added that priority lanes will be provided to members of the vulnerable sectors such as senior citizens, persons with disabilities (PWDs) and pregnant women.
The system of continuing registration of voters for the May 13, 2019 national elections resumed on July 2, 2018.
Jimenez said they have so far received more than one million applications since the registration resumed in July.
“We are expecting to have 60 to 61 million voters for 2019,” Jimenez added. (Ferdinand Patinio/PNA)