WITH less than a month before the voter's registration for the 2022 national election ends, the Commission on Elections-Davao Region (Comelec-Davao) admitted that it is still struggling to encourage first-time voters to register.
Lawyer Gay Enumerables, Comelec-Davao assistant regional director, said during SunStar Davao’s The Talking Heads on Friday, September 3, 2021, that since the voter’s registration resumed in Davao City, she noted a low influx of registrants going to their office.
“When we opened to the public, we are trying to hit the target set by the commission. Ang basis naman ng target namin (Our basis to our target) for first-time registrants, those from the PSA [Philippine Statistics Authority] data. So we’re trying to hit the target. But when we reopened, when we start with the resumption of the registration, medyo hina lang ang punta ng mga tao sa (not many people were coming to) Comelec offices,” Enumerables said.
Comelec registration in Davao City was temporarily suspended when the city was placed under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), and when the Davao City Government issued Executive Order No. (EO) 30, an order regulating all government face-to-face activities.
Under Comelec guidelines, registration and offices are suspended once placed under MECQ. While the City Government, in July, has excluded the voter's registration in government activities that are prohibited as stated in the EO.
Although she said they had been receiving applications, this is not as many compared to the previous registration period in the past.
“Maybe because ‘yung pandemic nga (of the current pandemic), they don’t want to be in public, and ayaw nila ‘yung (they don’t want to be) part of the crowd. Basically, we understand that,” the Comelec official said.
With only several days left, Enumerables said they are expecting that more people will be coming to their offices.
This is the reason why they extended the registration hours from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. to cater to those who cannot visit their office due to work on weekdays. Their office is open on Saturdays and holidays.
From January 20, 2020 to August 31, 2021, Comelec-Davao processed a total of 320,386 applications. Out of the total applications, 157,090 were applications for registrations, 97,136 for transfer from another city, district, or municipality, 17,267 for transfer within the same city, district, or municipality, 4,486 for application for transfer with reactivation, 1,457 applications for transfer with reactivation and correction of entries, 4,291 for application for transfer with correction of entries, and 15,630 for application for reactivation only.
With the rising Covid-19 infection in the region, Enumerables said their workers who are at the frontline of the registration were not spared from the virus.
"Marami-rami na rin sa mga samaham namin ang nagka-Covid (Many of our workers have been infected with Covid-19) because of the exposure sa (to the) public," she said.
They are currently conducting satellite registration in some parts of the region with zero Covid-19 cases to reach out to the community, especially those who have not yet been registered.
Enumerables said they are also struggling in conducting satellite registration due to the rising cases in the region.