By Ferdinand G. Patinio
MANILA, Oct. 12 (PNA) — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has assured that only qualified voters will participate in the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls next year.
According to Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez, the Election Officers (EOs) are now cleansing the SK voters’ list to ensure that it will be cleared of multiple registrants.
“After the SK registration, the Comelec will certainly take steps to ensure that the list of voters is clean and reasonably free of multiple registrants,” he said in an interview.
Jimenez noted that it is easy to spot multiple registrants since there is only a small number of youth registrants — about 3 to 3.5 million nationwide.
“Also, we should take note that we are just talking of barangays here. It is not hard to find multiple registrants in every barangay list,” he said.
From Sept. 20 to 29, the poll body conducted SK registration of young Filipinos at least 15 years old but below 18 years of age on Feb. 21, 2015, SK Election Day.
SK voters are recorded only in a logbook by the EOs, which is different from registration for regular voters, which requires the capturing of biometrics data.
Meanwhile, the poll body has yet to release its Calendar of Activities for the SK polls, which would contain the election period, campaign period, and period for filing of the Certificates of Candidacy, among others.
Jimenez said the reason is because the Comelec wants the youth polls to be held after the May 2016 national and local elections.
“For now, the focus of the Comelec is on preparing for the upcoming bidding for the automated election system (AES) that will be used in the 2016 elections,” he added.
The Comelec is considering to start the public bidding for the AES this month. (PNA)