Lawyer Kathrina Trinio-Caña is back as Bacolod City Election Officer, along with 12 other Comelec personnel, after completing the mandatory 14-day quarantine due to exposure to a COVID positive co-worker.
As she reports back to work, Caña will supervise the remaining days of voter registration for Bacolod City residents at the University of St. La Salle, which can accommodate a bigger number of applicants. Application for registration ends on Sept. 30.
Caña said they have prepared the venue and the whole team of the Bacolod Comelec will be there. Based on experience, the last days of the voter registration are always “chaotic”, she added.
The Bacolod EO admitted that the number of Comelec personnel is not enough to cater to thousands of people trying to beat the deadline.
Another constraint, Caña said, is the lack of enough capturing machines to process the biometrics of registrants as they are trying to register daily 500 regular voters and 150 others in the priority lane, including the elderly and persons with disability.
She advised registrants to be ready with the documents needed in the registration before going to the venue, such as valid IDs, preferably government-issued.
“If a registrant has no valid ID, he or she can ask somebody with a valid ID and a registered voter of the place where they reside to accompany them and accomplish the Oath/Undertaking of Identification form,” Caña said.
The guarantors will have a separate waiting area. They will be given the Oath/Undertaking of Identification form to fill up. A guarantor is allowed to sponsor up to three persons. Registrants and guarantors are also advised to bring their own ball pens and alcohol to avoid the borrowing of items.
Upon arrival at the USLS gym on September 27, 28, 29 and 30, registrants should line up properly, observe social distancing, and wear face mask and face shield.
Senior citizens, PWDs, pregnant women, medical frontliners, and uniformed personnel will be given priority.
Comelec personnel will assist these registrants upon arrival at the USLS gym and will be issued priority numbers for the day. They will be segregated and assisted in lining up in the priority lane. However, their companions, who also want to register, will not be accorded similar privileges.
Priority numbers cannot be issued in advance to avoid confusion, Caña said.
She added that they will wait until Thursday for advice if the deadline for registration will be extended. She said this would depend on the action of Congress, whose members are pushing for an extension. — MML
