Comelec: Strong turnout in first days of poll listup
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported a strong turnout for the registration of voters at multiple sites across the country, although Malacañang earlier announced that the village and youth council elections set for December would likely be postponed until next year.
“This favorable outcome during the first day of voter registration is a clear testament of the Filipino people’s willingness to exercise their right of suffrage come next elections and actively participate in the democratic process,” Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said in a statement.
“There are so many people at the Luneta registration site now. There are also so many registrants in the (University of the East, or UE) site, as well as in different parts of the country,” he said at the start of the 10-day registration period for the next election, officially called 2025 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).
“Hopefully, we will be able to reach our target of one million new voters in 10 days,” Garcia said, hoping that at least half of the resulting number of registrations would be voters aged 15 to 17, most of whom are first-time voters.”
Very consequential
Comelec has not yet released registration numbers, but the Comelec said it aims to enroll 1 million new voters during the ongoing registration drive from Aug. 1 to Aug. 10.
“Our hope is to register at least 1 million voters in those 10 days and at least half of that number are young people,” Garcia said in an interview with reporters in Pasay City on Saturday.
Garcia stressed that the poll body pushed through with the listup because it was very consequential not only for the BSKE, but also for subsequent elections, including the Bangsamoro parliamentary election set for Oct. 1.
“Had we not pushed for registration even for just 10 days, we might not have countrymen aged 15 to 17 eligible to vote,” he said. “No one will vote during the Sangguniang Kabataan elections.”
No foreseen problem
Garcia said there should be no problem even if the President signs another law postponing the village and youth council elections because registrations during the ongoing listup will remain valid.
Village and youth council elections involve more than 84,000 (42,000 barangay and 42,000 youth) councils, plus more than 588,000 council members (294,000 barangay and 294,000 youth).
But village and youth council elections have been legally contentious since 2019, because of issues arising from term extensions and schedule conflicts with other elections, like the 2025 Bangsamoro parliamentary election.
Earlier this year, both houses of the 19th Congress enrolled for enactment a reconciled version of House Bill No. 11287 and Senate Bill No. 2629. The enrolled bill still has no Republic Act number because it remains unsigned by the President.
But Garcia previously said Malacañang informed him that Mr. Marcos would sign the enrolled bill on Aug. 12. The prospective law would purportedly postpone the village and youth council elections to the first Monday of November 2026 and every four years thereafter.
