Comelec launches caravan to encourage voters’ registration for barangay, SK polls

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday launched a caravan which aims to encourage the public including students to register for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) set for October 23. (Photo from Wikipedia/Ramon Velasquez)

MANILA –The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday launched a caravan which aims to encourage the public including students to register for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) set for October 23.

“Almost 40 to 50 percent of our total number of voters comprises the 18 to 30 years old, especially now they can also vote in the SK elections. Plus we are even targeting the 15 to 17 years old,” said Comelec Chairman Juan Andres Bautista at the launch of the campaign at the Comelec main office in Intramuros, Manila.

However, the “Voter Registration Awareness Caravan” that was supposed to be held in universities and colleges in Intramuros, Taft Avenue, and University Belt did not push through as classes were suspended due to the transport strike in the National Capital Region (NCR).

“Because of the transport strike, classes were suspended in the universities, where we were supposed to visit, such as University of Santo Tomas (UST) and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM),” he added.

Bautista noted that the caravan to schools and universities in Metro Manila will be rescheduled soon.

“So we will just push it on another day,” the poll body chief added.

At the same time, Bautista said that local election officers (EOs) in city/municipality are encouraged to hold satellite registration activities inside schools and universities to make the registration process more accessible to potential voters in the next polls.

“Even without the caravan, we are encouraging our EOs and assistants to go to the schools and set up voter registration booths there, so that they can capture the youth, who can vote either or both vote for the SK and the barangay elections,” he added.

Applications for registrations, transfer/transfer with reactivation, reactivation, change/correction of entries, and inclusion/reinstatement of records in the list of voters are being accepted in all local Offices of the Election Officers (OEOs) nationwide.

The voter registration period started in November 7, 2016 and will run until April 29, 2017.

Applications are accepted from Mondays to Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on April 13 (Maundy Thursday) and 14 (Good Friday).