Mayor Cannot Transfer Registration, Says Comelec

Because of the heavy turnout of registrants — including youths — trooping to the offices of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for them to be registered for the forthcoming Barangay and Sanguniang Kabataan (SK) elections, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama suggested that the registration will be conducted in the barangays.

About 2,000 persons of different ages trooped to the offices of the Comelec in Cebu City’s north and south districts on Monday, but not all of them were entertained.

North District Election Officer Marchell Sarno explained that his office can accommodate only about 700 to 800 persons everyday, and the Comelec-south district can also accommodate a similar number of registrants.

Sarno described the mayor’s suggestion as good, but said they cannot just do it without the concurrence of the Comelec en-banc because the order is that the registration of the new voters and those who wish to transfer to other precincts will be done only at the Comelec.

The validation of voters records has been suspended because of the registration for the forthcoming October 28 Barangay and SK elections.

Voters’ validation involves the capture and submission of biometrics data (digital photo, fingerprints and signature) of voters without or with incomplete biometrics in the registration record.

The suspension of voters’ validation, notwithstanding, the Comelec stressed that the conduct of voters’ registration which started July 22 up to 31, 2013.