After Congress moved to postpone the barangay and SK elections, the Commission on Elections decided to continue with the registration of voters. This was according to Election Supervisor Eliseo Labaria.
Labaria said they will resume with the voters’ registration next month based on an order from the national office of Comelec.
There is no definite date yet when to actually start the resumption of the voters registration.
Since the barangay and SK elections will no longer push through in October, Comelec has stopped their calendar of activities such as the preparation of precincts and printing of ballots.
Labaria said they are now waiting for the resolution or the guidelines from the national Comelec office related to the postponement of the barangay elections, especially that the terms of the present set of barangay officials will already end.
Comelec-Bohol had already recorded 47,590 aged 15-17 for SK and 13,361 aged 18 and above who registered as new voters, while there are 2,884 who had their registration reactivated in the registration of voters conducted after the May elections supposedly in preparation for the October elections.
As of the registration closed on July 30 prior to the postponement of the elections, Bohol had listed 60,951 new voters to participate in the synchronized Sangguniang Kabataan and barangay elections supposed on October 31.
With the postponement, those who failed to beat the previous deadline will have their chance when Comelec resumes the registration of voters.
Of the current number, 47,590 registered to vote for SK elections, aged 15-17; while 13,361 aged 18 and above registered as regular voters where those 18-30 years old will vote for both SK and barangay officials.
Ubay topped the list with a total of 3,590 applying for registration, followed by Carmen with 2,648. Talibon ranked 3rd with 2,562 applying for registration, then Tubigon with 2,254 applicants, and Candijay with 1,823.
The same order showed for SK registration applicants where Ubay had 2,485, Carmen with 2,110, Talibon with 1,765, Tubigon with 1,528, and Candijay with 1,423.
For first-time voters, aged 18-above, Ubay also topped with 885; followed by Talibon with 639, then Tubigon with 528, Carmen with 435, and Trinidad with 396 in the Top 5.
Tagbilaran City which has a total of 1,496 expected new voters has 1,013 voting for SK officials only, and 355 18-above new voters.
Newly registered voters will be added to the 798,768 voters in the Mayo 9 elections.
Comelec-Bohol processed a total of 65,146 applications relative to voters’ registration for the October 31 polls.
Of the number, at least 2,884 applied for reactivation of their registration, 17 applied for transfer of registration record of overseas voters, 361 applied for change of name, 409 applied for correction of entries, eight applied for reinstatement of their names in the list of voters, and 516 applied for reactivation and change or correction.
Comelec-Bohol consolidated this in the voter’s registration period from July 15-30.
Provincial Election Supervisor Elesio Labaria said those aged 18-30 can vote for SK and barangay officials, but only those aged 18-24 can run for SK positions.
The bulk of the registration came on deadline day, July 30, as the usual pattern in past registration of voters, Labaria noted.
The Synchonized Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections were supposedly scheduled on October 31.
Comelec had supposedly constituted the members of the Board of Election Tellers (BETs) and the Barangay Boards of Canvassers (BBOC) on August 31 to September 5.
Earlier reports had it that the postponement of the elections was in reference to the fear that drug money might be used to fund candidates.