A total of 8,210 voters registered at Bacolod COMELEC from October 11 to 30, the extension period set by the Commission on Elections for the 2022 polls.
Election officer Atty. Kathrina Trinio-Caña said that on the last day of the registration at University of St. La Salle, they were able to process application from 789 registrants.
“It seems that the 16-day extension is not enough since there are still a lot more who did not make it to the cut-off date,” Caña said.
She added that the Election Registration Board will convene on Nov. 11 for the hearing of the new applications and any protest or petition should be filed before that date.
Since residency has always been the common ground for the petition, the applicant must provide an evidence and witnesses to prove her or his residency in the barangay she or he indicated in the form, Caña said.
As of October 30, 2021 Bacolod has a total of 322, 690 official registered voters, with the final number expected to go higher after the ERB confirms the registration during the extension period.
Meanwhile, provincial election supervisor Atty. Ian Ananoria said he is also collating the number of additional registrants in the towns and cities in Negros Occidental.
He added that the names of the local candidates for the 2022 polls, who filed their candidacies on Oct. 1-8, were already published in the COMELEC website for verification.
Ananoria said that the COMELEC legal department will determine this month, who among those who filed their COCs are nuisance candidates.
The provincial election supervisor’s office is also tasked to form the Provincial Join Security Command Center that will oversee the submission of the list of areas of concern from the Philippine Army and the Philippine National Police, he said.
The Command Center will also discuss the policy and guidelines for the members of the PNP and AFP during the election period which will start on January 9, 2022. – MML
