MANILA, July 4 (PNA) — Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose Andres Bautista said he would be happy if they will be able to get half of the 4.3 million registered voters without biometrics data.
In an interview at the sidelines of the opening of the satellite voting registration at Glorietta 5 mall in Makati City, he said it would be good for the commission if they will get the target figure of more than 2 million voters.
“Kami kapag nakakuha ng over two million na nagpabiometrics I’ll be happy na,” he said.
The poll body is expecting the number of Filipino voters to be between 54 to 56 million after the nationwide registration, which is set to end on October 31.
With this, Bautista said they are pleased with the number of those who went to the registration Saturday morning in Makati.
”Masaya naman ako. Madami namang tao dito sa Makati pero we want to ramp this up. We also want to learn what we can do better for future registration,” he said.
Bautista added, “Ang SM has committed to use all 52 malls nationwide for this registration drive kumbaga we will continue to build on what we are doing now for future registration.
Aside from the Makati mall, eight other malls such as SM Malls in the National Capital Region (NCR) also started their satellite registrations on Saturday.
Bautista noted that they are also looking to start the same registration in malls in the provinces this month.
“We will do the registration in the province this month,” he said.
For his part, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said that the process of getting the biometrics does not take over 15 minutes, adding that validation of voter’s registration is much faster.
“Usually less than 15 minutes…the process for validation is even faster,” he said, noting that each registration booth have at least four voters registration machines.
Jimenez is also happy with the turnout of registrants at the Makati mall.
On the other hand, Henrietta de Villa, chairperson of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) applauded the effort of the Comelec and the private sector in coming up with registration inside malls.
“Its very good, very proactive. Kasi kamukha nito their tendency for Comelec now, is to go out where the people at not to wait anymore para yung mga tao pa ang pupunta sa kanila, kasi kailangan mabawasan ng 4 million unvalidated registration,” she said.
With this, the head of the poll watchdog urged the public to take advantage of this opportunity.
“Ang maganda sa mall, ang mga Pilipino dito namamasyal, maging barkada mo, o pamilya mo, sa mall mo dinadala, kaya dito, you shoot two birds with one stone, you do your duty for validating your registration and at the same time, you enjoy that kasi nasa mall ka eh,” De villa said.(PNA)