Thursday, July 19, 2007 Cebu City Council seeks more time for SK listup, says Comelec is ‘insensitive’
ON mass motion, the Cebu City Council yesterday asked Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos to extend the registration period for the synchronized barangay and Sanggu-niang Kabataan (SK) elections.
Vice Mayor Michael Rama also chided personnel of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Cebu City offices, who he said are insensitive to the situation of the hundreds of registrants who visit their offices.
That he had to go to Come-lec last Sunday to control the crowd in behalf of Comelec personnel “leaves a bad taste in the mouth,” he said.
“We called the election officers to a meeting last Monday and raised some suggestions on how to improve the registration process. The south district office adopted it but the north district did not. Why can’t they be flexible and sensitive to the registrants? Are they public servants or not?” Rama asked.
In a privilege speech, SK Federation President and City Council ex-officio member Glena Bontuyan said Comelec should improve its registration system, transfer the registration venue to the barangay halls and extend the registration period, to be sure that all youth voters can cast their votes on Oct. 29.
On the fourth day of the registration, registrants still had to wait under the heat of the sun, or the rain.
Bontuyan fears that the 25,000 expected new registrants will not finish the registration process, particularly the students who have to attend classes during the day.
The council approved during their session yesterday the motion to support requests to extend the registration period for the SK and barangay elections.
At the Comelec Central Visayas office, Regional Election Director Rene Buac assured that all those who can file their application for registration by July 22 will be given until the 28th to complete the process.
Rama felt strongly against the disorder at the Comelec Cebu City offices in the past three days after he lost his administration officer, Tonette Dolatre, who died of heart attack.
Dolatre had been helping control the rowdy crowd at the Comelec since last Sunday. He suffered from a heat stroke last Monday and died in a hospital yesterday.
In an interview after the session, Rama said he suggested to Election Officers Edwin Cadungog (south district) and Marchel Sarno (north district) to just distribute the registration application forms at the barangay level so as not to inconvenience registrants who will have to line up at Comelec to claim the form.
But Sarno said he opted to have his staff personally distribute the forms to registrants after they are interviewed, as specified in the Comelec resolution prescribing the guidelines for the registration process.
The Comelec regional election director supported Sarno’s stand on the issue.
Sarno assured, though, that all those who will file their application by the July 22 deadline will be registered.
Sarno said they will give the applicants until July 28 to complete the registration process.
Registrants will have to go to the poll office on or before July 22 for the interview and the forms. If they don’t finish the process on the same day, their names will be recorded in the logbook and will be advised to come back anytime between the 23rd and 28th for their biometrics.
“We will extend the period for the completion of the registration because it is not the fault of the voter but it’s partly the fault of the commission because of the lack of equipment,” Sarno said.
The north district office only has one data capturing machine to process the application of up to 500 registrants a day.
In a phone interview, Buac said the Comelec guidelines specified that the application forms should be distributed in the election office and not in the barangay halls.
“If barangay officials distribute 100 forms in their respective barangays, how can we be assured that all 100 will be returned to our office? Election officers have the discretion how to manage the registration but there are also limitations in the resolution,” Buac said. (LCR)
