The Bacolod Commission on Elections received the applications of 725 registrants Sept. 27, which surpassed its daily target of 650 regular and priority applicants.
Bacolod Election Officer, Atty. Kathrina Trinio-Caña, said they extended until 8 p.m. Monday to cater to 500 regular registrants and accommodated 225 applicants of the 150 target under the priority sector because may persons with disability went to the registration site at the University of St. La Salle Coliseum to file their applications.
Aside from PWDs, the COMELEC is giving priority to senior citizens, pregnant women, medical frontliners, and uniformed personnel in the registration for the May 2022 Presidential and Local Elections.
About a thousand applicants flocked to the USLS Monday and early morning yesterday to secure a number and be attended to by COMELEC, since the deadline for the voter registration is on Sept. 30.
Meanwhile, Caña said she will follow the orders of the Commission if the voter registration will be extended, but she said that, personally, she does not agree with it.
She expressed her dismay on the attitude of some registrants, who asked on when the last day of registration would be, instead of asking when the registration period started.
Caña said the registrants have been given almost two years, after the 2019 elections, to process their applications, but only a few visited their office to submit their papers or make inquiries about their concerns.
She said the employees of Bacolod COMELEC are already exhausted and are braving exposure to the virus just to cater to registrants.
The Congress-approved registration extension is up for approval by President Rodrigo Duterte.
The COMELEC commissioners are discussing the possibility that the registration extension would be done after the last day of the filing of Certificates of Candidacy on Oct. 8. — MML
