- GILBERT BAYORAN
More than 57,000 applications were filed during the voter registration for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) in Negros Occidental, that ended Jan. 31 this year, Provincial Comelec supervisor, Atty. Ian Lee Ananoria, said.
“It’s more than what we expected,” Ananoria said. Earlier, he told reporters that they were expecting at least 50,000 new voter-applicants in Negros Occidental.
Of the total applicants, Ananoria said around 14,000 are 15 to 17 years old, who will vote for the new set of SK officials.
He said that the Election Registration Board (ERB) will convene on Feb. 20 to assess the registrants, and the final list will then be submitted to the Comelec central office.
With the additional 57,000 possible voters, Ananoria said Negros Occidental will have more than two million voters in the next elections.
The simultaneous BSKE is scheduled on Oct. 30 this year, after its original date of Dec. 5 last year was postponed by Congress and approved by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The Comelec is urging voters to participate in this year’s BSKE./GB
