- NIDA A. BUENAFE
The Commission on Election in Bacolod City works overtime to accommodate the throng of voter registration applicants, who are trying to beat the September 30 deadline.
Negros Occidental Provincial Election Supervisor Fatima Aspan yesterday said that satellite registration at the malls will continue until Saturday. The schedule has been set before Aspan was replaced by Atty. Adrian Arellano as acting election officer of Bacolod.
Aspan clarified that as Negros Occidental Election Supervisor, the Bacolod Comelec is under her supervision.
On Sept. 18, the Bacolod Emergency Operations Center requested the Comelec to suspend the satellite registration due to the rising COVID-19 cases in the city.
However, Aspan, who was then the acting EO of Bacolod, said she referred the EOC request to Comelec regional office and was told to continue the scheduled registration until Sept. 30.
Aspan was designated as acting EO of Bacolod on Sept. 13, concurrent with her position as PES, after Bacolod election officer Atty. Kathrina Trinio-Caña, and most of her staff, underwent mandatory quarantine due to exposure to a COVID positive co-worker.
Caña along with the other Comelec personnel, is scheduled to return to work on Sept. 27 after testing negative for the virus. — NAB
