Senate, Comelec unable to reach compromise

THE Senate on Monday, September 27, 2021, approved on third and final reading a bill seeking to extend the registration of voters to another month, despite repeated rejection by the Commission on Election (Comelec), which maintain that it can only afford an extension by one week.

Senate Bill No. 2408, an Act Extending the Registration of Voters for the 2022 National and Local Elections, was unanimously approved by all senators in virtual and physical attendance, and agreed that the Comelec needed to be compelled to move the deadline after its continued rejection of the proposal.

This despite Comelec spokesperson, James Jimenez, telling the media last Friday, September 24, 2021, that the poll body cannot accommodate the lawmakers’ demand due to time constraint.

Jimenez made the poll body’s position known during the ‘Meet the Press/Report to the Nation’ media forum of the National Press Club.

The measure was signed by Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III, President Pro-Tempore Ralph G. Recto, Majority Leader Juan Miguel F. Zubiri, Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, Senators Sonny Angara, Nancy S. Binay, Pia S. Cayetano, Leila M. De Lima, Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, Win Gatchalian, Lawrence Christopher Go, Richard J. Gordon, Risa Hontiveros, Panfilo M. Lacson, Lito M. Lapid, Imee R. Marcos, Emmanuel “Manny” D. Pacquiao, Francis  Pangilinan, Grace   Poe, Ramon Bong Revilla Jr., Francis  Tolentino, Joel Villanueva, and Cynthia A. Villar.

Zubiri, main sponsor of the bill, said the Senate will adopt the House of Representatives’ version of the bill, which says the last day of registration will be 30 days from the effectivity of the proposed measure.

This will allow the legislature to do away with the bicameral conference committee meeting since there are no differences and disagreeing provisions to be reconciled in the two bills.

After this, the final version will be sent to the President for signature.

Zubiri reiterated the urgency of passing a legislation that would mandate the Comelec to move the deadline of the registrations to allow more voters to participate in next year’s elections.

“Hopefully the President will sign this request,” Zubiri said.

But according to Jimenez, extending voters’ registration for another month would already compromise the already tight schedule they are working in to ensure that the May 9, 2022 polls would proceed as scheduled and with its credibility not under question.

Zubiri, in his sponsorship speech, said the month-long extension could make a big difference in accommodating people who want to register for the coming elections. He said the extension would prevent the disenfranchisement of about 12 million eligible voters.

Jimenez claimed that based on their record and the trend of registration, the Comelec would still be able to register more than 62 million voters, which is what they expected.

But according to the senators, citing the poll body’s own report, as of June 2021, there are around 60 million registered voters for the 2022 elections.

This is short of the 73.3 million projected voting population reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in February 2021.

Comelec resolutions dated July 18, 2019 and January 10, 2020 set voter registration for the May 9, 2022 national and local elections from January 20, 2020 until September 30, 2021.

Jimenez added that the poll body would make its announcement on whether to extend the registration period by another week on September 29, 2021, right after the ‘en banc’ session of the commission.

Zubiri, however, noted that the September 30, 2021 deadline set by the Comelec was announced before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In this connection, Comelec could not have anticipated the adverse impact of the pandemic on voter registration and must make the necessary adjustments to allow more unregistered potential voters to register.

“In fact, voter registration was suspended several times due to the adverse effect of Covid-19,” he added.