PETITION TO EXTEND THE DEADLINE OF VOTER REGISTRATION UNTIL AT LEAST OCTOBER 31, 2021 TO DETER MASSIVE VOTER DISENFRANCHISEMENT AMID COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Link to Voter's Registration Extension Petition (First Batch of Petitioners):
https://bit.ly/3m79uvd

We, the various youth, student, and community leaders and other democracy-loving Filipinos, on behalf of the many people’s organizations and groups that have called for the extension of the voter registration deadline, are writing to the Honorable Commission.to formally request for a longer voter registration period.

The 1987 Constitution declares the Philippines as a democratic and republican country. As such, free, fair, and regular elections are critical to the functioning of our democracy; our right to vote, i.e. suffrage, lies at the heart of our constitutional democracy. The right of every Filipino to choose the leaders who will lead the country and participate, to the fullest extent possible, in every national and local election is zealously guarded by the fundamental law of our land that it devoted an entire article (Article V) solely for suffrage.

It is known that the mandate of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) is to ensure the conduct of regular and special elections, and by extension, to enable the maximum participation of citizens in the elections and thereby enhance the quality of such elections. Moreover, Section 8 of Republic Act No. 8189, or the Voter’s Registration Act of 1996, provides that the COMELEC shall establish a system of continuing registration of voters, subject only to the limitation that no registration shall be conducted during the period starting one hundred (120) days before a regular election and ninety (90) days before a special election.

The COMELEC thereby promulgated Resolution Nos. 10549 and 10635 on July 18, 2019 and January 10, 2020, respectively, to state the rules and regulations on the resumption of the system of continuing registration of voters, and the set voter registration period for the May 9, 2022 National and Local Elections (NLE) which is from January 20, 2020 until September 30, 2021. On March 9, 2020, the COMELEC, however, suspended voter registration starting March 10, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the said suspension was stretched until August 31, 2020.

To adapt to the country’s situation, the COMELEC promulgated last August 12, 2020 Resolution No. 10674 which laid out regulations regarding voter’s registration amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, including restrictions on operations in different quarantine areas. These regulations suspended the start of voter’s registration in areas under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) and Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) which caused delays in voter registration in major urban centers.

Considering the five-and-a-half-month suspension which is equivalent to approximately 28.3% or 164 days of the voter registration period across the country and, after that, month-long suspensions in areas under ECQ and MECQ brought about by the COVID19 pandemic (some areas, such as Metro Manila, lost up to 38.6% of the entire registration period), we believe that COMELEC has the prerogative to set the deadline of voter registration on a later date but before January 9, 2022. Recently, further suspensions of voter’s registration in areas under ECQ were implemented due to the onset of community transmission of the Delta Variant.

Additionally, satellite voter’s registration has decreased from the previous years and centers have further been crippled by strict COVID-19 regulations since March due to a nationwide suspension.

Furthermore, months before the deadline, qualified voters encounter registration problems hindering them from enlisting for the 2022 elections. Among the reported concerns are limited registration slots offered by local COMELEC offices or local governments, ineffective registration sites due to various factors such as, but not limited to, sudden or scheduled registration early cut-off because of crashing or down online voter registration system and long lines due to staff shortage--situations prompting people to start lining up even as early as 4:00 a.m., among others.

The backlog and challenges in voter’s registration threaten to disenfranchise an estimated 13.1 million prospective voters in the upcoming 2022 national elections.

While we recognize COMELEC’s need to have ample time to prepare the final list of voters, which is a prerequisite for the preparation and completion of the Project of Precincts (POP), the youth and the people believe that at least a month extension would not delay that much COMELEC’s preparation of the POP. In fact, there are previous instances in which COMELEC set deadlines that are on or even beyond October 31 of the year before elections:

NLE Voter Registration Deadline
2001 -- December 27, 2000
2004 -- October 31, 2003
2007 -- December 31, 2006
2010 -- January 9, 2010
2013 -- October 31, 2012

With the foregoing facts and arguments, we forward that extending the voter registration period is all the more a prudent thing to do and is also already an imperative as we have just and heavier reasons to reimplement it now more than ever.

The Supreme Court has already acknowledged before that the COMELEC has the power to set the deadline of voter’s registration 120 days before the day of the elections. The September 30 deadline was set before the COVID-19 pandemic and it now falls upon the COMELEC’s prerogative to adjust the deadline due to the ramifications of the pandemic.

It is in this light that we humbly appeal to the Honorable Commission to extend the deadline for voter registration until at least October 31, 2021 to deter massive voter disenfranchisement amid COVID-19 pandemic.

Signed this 16th day of August 2021, Philippines:

Hon. Sarah Jane I. Elago
Representative, Kabataan Party-list

Calvin Almazan (signed)
Convenor, Kabataan, Tayo ang Pag-asa!

Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Officials

Hon. Patricia Torres 
SK Chairperson, Brgy. Maybunga, Pasig City

Hon. Joshua Y. Guinto (signed)
SK Federation President, Imus, Cavite

Hon. Mia Angela S. Simon
SK Chairperson, Brgy. Magtanggol, City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija

Hon. Lisse De Vera
SK Kagawad, Brgy. Tamaro, Bayambang, Pangasinan

Hon. Lovelyn Losaria
SK Chairperson, Brgy. Poblacion Ilawod, Lambunao, Iloilo

Hon. Jona May L. Ramirez 
SK Chairperson, Brgy. Medicion II-B, Imus, Cavite

Hon. Daniela Fe O. Gomez 
SK Chairperson, Brgy. Pag-asa I, Imus, Cavite

Hon. Mark Glenn H. Ocbina 
SK Chairperson, Brgy. Medicion II-D, Imus,
Cavite

Hon. Jasmhen Joy I. Luna (signed)
SK Chairperson, Brgy. Medicion 1-A, Imus, Cavite

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