Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino today urged the Comelec to resume voter registration within the week.

Palatino made the appeal after the Comelec said that it would file for a motion to clarify before the Supreme Court following the latter’s favorable decision to Kabataan Party-list’s petition to extend voter registration.

Citing the text of the high court’s decision, he said that since the SC ruling is immediately executory, voter registration should have resumed today and should continue ‘daily during regular office hours, except only during the period starting 120 days before a regular election and 90 days before a special election.’

Palatino said that he does not see any reason for the Comelec to be waiting for December 21 to implement the decision since voter registration is ‘not an entirely new administrative task for the Comelec’. The Comelec has recently set staggered schedules for voter registration on December 21, 22, 23, 28, 29 and January 4 until January 9.

“So we would be wasting five whole days from today until December 21. As early as now we are receiving reports of prospective new registrants lining up at Comelec offices only to be sent away because the Comelec is still dawdling,” he said.

“There is a reason why the SC was quick in issuing a decision, that is because time is most precious at this point for voter registration. The sooner the Comelec implements that ruling, the better for more prospective new registrants,” he said.

Stop blaming delays on voter registration
Palatino also advised the Comelec to stop blaming present and potential delays in poll preparation on the extension of voter registration.

“Comelec’s pitting poll automation against voter registration is seriously getting old. Whatever problems the preparations for poll automation have experienced before, are experiencing presently and will face in the future has nothing to do with voter registration.”

He said that preparation for poll automation, as revealed by the Comelec itself, has been behind one month since November.
“That was even before the SC ruling. Now will they be laying the blame on the delayed shipment of poll machines on the SC ruling too? Voter registration has nothing to do with that. Preparations for poll automation and the extension of voter registration are two entirely different entities that are independent of each other.”
Palatino also echoed the Supreme Court’s opinion that ‘the period of 120 days before a regular election and 90 days before a special election is enough time for the Comelec to make ALL the necessary preparations with respect to the coming elections,’ including completion of project precincts, constitution of the Board of Election inspectors, finalization of the Computerized Voters List, among others. ###