The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will discuss the possible extension of the overseas voter’s registration process, specifically in areas with most Filipino voters, poll body chairman Sheriff Abas said Monday.
During the Senate deliberation on the proposed P26.728 billion of the poll body for fiscal year 2022, Senator Imee Marcos urged Comelec to extend the overseas registration process, which ended last October 14.
She said some overseas Filipino workers thought that the deadline was on October 30. Marcos appealed that the registration process be extended for at least another two weekends, especially in “most populous” areas.
“I just wanted to make an appeal on behalf of our overseas Filipino workers because their last day was last week, October 14. For some reason or other, they were not aware of that date or claimed of not having been told and that they were under the impression that it was also October 30, the overseas,” Marcos said.
“I was urging the Comelec if possible and I reiterate this plea that we extend for at least two weekends in the most populous or consulates with the most Filipinos and allow our overseas workers to vote,” she added.
She also cited the difficulty of travel of OFWs as well as the seafarers as she pushed for the said extension. Marcos specifically mentioned Hong Kong and Macau as among those areas where a lot of Filipinos are not yet registered for the 2022 national and local elections.
Abas, for his part, said the Comelec en banc would discuss Marcos’ appeal. He, however, admitted that the registration for OFWs and seafarers has long been stretched, but the poll body will still look into this.
“Yes, we will put that in agenda this week, pag-uusapan namin kung kaya pa namin i-stretch ‘yung sa OFOV, stretch na stretch na po siya pero i-try pa rin po namin, magandang idea ‘yun na we will cater doon lang sa NCR nila, ‘yung pinakamaraming hindi pa nakarehistro. Baka puwede pa naming gawan ng paraan,” Abas said.
(We will discuss if we could still stretch the schedule for OFOV. It has been stretched but we will still try. The appeal to extend the process for those in NCR-like areas, where a lot have not been registered, is a good idea.)
Meanwhile, the Comelec said as of September 30, a total of 63,678,476 have been registered, including new registrants and those who have reactivated their registrations.
The poll body is expecting that it will reach 64 million registered voters by the end of October.—AOL, GMA News
Comelec to discuss possible extension of overseas registration in ‘most populous’ areas
Source: Pinoy Hub News
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