By Ferdinand G. Patinio
MANILA, July 11 (PNA) — Filipino voters will be allowed to vote inside Robinsons Malls in the 2016 national and local elections, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose Andres and Frederick Co, president of Robinsons Land Corp. jointly said Saturday.
Bautista and Co led the opening of Comelec’s satellite registration booth at Robinson Place Manila Saturday morning.
Bautista said the Commelec decided to put up voting centers inside malls after carefully studying the election law.
“Pinag-aralan namin yung batas na ang nakalagay dyan as much as possible dapat ‘yung voting will be held in public schools, but over time we have realized na number one, public schools are small and second, there are certain precincts that are not near to public schools and they become overcrowded in which case, there have been instances wherein private schools had to come in to help in the voting process,” he said.
“Because of the absence of a nearby public school, so I made a preliminary study in respect of these issues and what I am told is that you can move precincts that are near the malls to vote within the malls for example, I don’t know which barangays are covered by Robinsons Manila, but instead of voting in a public school in the vicinity, we can transfer the polling precincts to the malls,” he said.
He also cited the many advantages in allowing people to vote inside malls.
“It will enhance security, enhance issues in respect to electricity, in respect to transmission, and of course an air-conditioned and well lighted setting will ensure that people are happier when they are voting,” he said.
“Pwede din mamitigate like vote-buying, violence, issues of impatients, ang dami sa atin maiinit ang ulo kasi mainit. Kahit mahaba ang pila pero nasa aircon ka di ba kahit paano malamig ang ulo mo, pag nagugutom ka pwede ka muna kumain. Tapos electricity, kung tayo ay magpi-pcos machines maganda yung walang mga issue ng brownout kasi may mga generator ang mga malls, yung transmission, malakas ang signal sa mall, ang daming benefits. Its really a win-win as far as Comelec is concerned and really we need forward looking businessmen like Mr. Go to be able to realize that this is good for the country, and therefor eventually good for business,” he said.
He also said that the voting in the malls might also result to a good number of voters’ participation.
“So it should lead to a greater voter turnout,” he said.
For his part, Go said that they were happy to provide the public a comfortable and safe environment when casting their votes.
“Come May 2016 I’m sure we will make the general public very, very happy that now they can vote in a very comfortable setting and a very safe and secure environment,” Go said.
There are 42 Robinsons malls nationwide.
Baustista said that they expect to come up on the number of voting centers to be established inside participating malls by November.
“Basta by November 7 we will have a plan, what is important is we want to know which malls are participating,” he added
At the same time, the poll body chief lauded the efforts of the private sectors for partnering with the government in looking after the welfare of the voting public.
“Again its the forward thinking of businessmen like Mr. Go that are supposed to be commended because these are the kind of initiatives that we want to undertake as it aid to enhance the voting experience for very Filipino voter. We hope that the example of Robinsons will be emulated by other similar organizations,” Bautista added.
Meanwhile, the following are the scheduled voter registration at the different Robinsons Malls: Robinsons Place Manila on July 15 and 16 for residents of Districts 1-6; Robinsons Magnolia on August 12 for District 4; Robinsons Town Mall Malabon on August 23 and 24 and September 20 for residents of Malabon City; Robinsons Place Antipolo on July 16, 17, 23, 24, 30 and 31 for residents of Antipolo City; Robinsons Place Santiago on August 1 for residents of Santiago City; Robinsons Place Angeles on July 26-31, August 16-17 and September 20-21 for residents of Angeles City; Robinsons Place Malolos on July 29-31 for the residents of Malolos; Robinsons Place Lipa on August 12-15 for the residents of Lipa City; Robinsons Sta. Rosa on September 11, 12, 18 and 19 for the residents of Sta. Rosa and Robinsons Place Palawan on July 16, 17 and August 20 and 21 for the residents of Palawan.
For voters in Visayas and Mindanao, the scheduled registration dates are as follows: July 17, 24 and 31 at Robinsons Place Dumaguete for the residents of Dumaguete City; July 24, August 24 and September 10 and 24 at Robinsons Place Roxas for the residents of Roxas City; July 25 and 25 at Robinsons Cybergate Cebu for the residents of Cebu City; August 30 and 31 at Robinsons Cagayan de Oro for the residents of Cagayan de Oro City and July 26, August 30 and September 27 at Robinsons Place Butuan for the residents of Butuan City. (PNA)