Thousands of registrants flocked at the office of the Commission on Election (COMELEC) yesterday, the first day of the voters’ registration for the 2022 elections.
“To be honest, we never really expected the number of people to rise this many since this is our first time to conduct the registration for this year,” said Atty. Krisna Caballero, COMELEC XI spokesperson.
Although, there was an influx, Caballero said they have been prepared and have readied their personnel for as much crowd as possible.
“We are prepared and we can cater all of these people, since our personnel also works fast,” she said.
Caballero said “we still don’t have the figures yet but it is certain there are a lot of people (on the first day).”
She said that satellite registrations, wherein COMELEC will visit one barangay at a time, is still being decided. She said COMELEC is waiting for some barangays to request for a satellite registration.
“There are barangays that already requested but it is too early to conduct it,” Caballero said.
Last year, almost 400,000 residents registered in First District alone for the supposed barangay elections.
She also said that the cut-off time shall depend on the influx of people and the processing step.
Caballero said there are three processes.
First is checking of identification cards (ID), filling up forms, and interviewing.
Second is checking the precinct where the voter belongs, and the third is encoding of information.
“We can still cater those people who are in steps 2 and 3 already, even if its pass 5 p.m. already. But if you are still in step one and its almost 5 p.m., then you will be considered as part of those who were included in the cutting-off,” she explained.
Part of the requirements for registration is presenting government-issued IDs which is considered as valid. Police clearance and cedulas will not be considered.
If there are no valid IDs, NBI clearances are acceptable.
The registration is until Sept. 30, 2021.
