Manila residents register in dark as power outage hits Comelec
A POWER outage hit a part of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) building in Manila on Saturday, as hundreds of residents rushed to beat the September 30 deadline for voters’ registration.
Election Assistant 2 Jomar Presentacion, who was manning the registration on the third floor for Districts 3, 4 and 5 where the brownout happened, said a busted fuse caused the three-hour power outage that started at 11 a.m.
Presentacion said power supply came back at about 2 p.m. and operations returned to normal.
The other floors of the building were not affected.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez on Friday said “an influx of registrants is to be expected.”
“The Comelec has anticipated this, and we are confident that our employees in the field are prepared to handle the last-day registration scenario,” Jimenez said.
The ongoing registration is in accordance with the Voter’s Registration Act of 1996, which provides for the system of continuing registration of voters. It is also part of the Comelec’s preparation for the scheduled synchronized Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections on the second Monday of May 2020.
The Senate has approved on second reading a proposed measure postponing the village and youth polls and holding them on May 2023. A similar move is also gaining ground at the House of Representatives.
Comelec Chairman Sheriff Abas had said the poll body would abide with the collective decision of Congress even as he appealed to Congress to decide early or come out with an amendatory law early soon.
Pursuant to Section 6 of Comelec Resolution 10549, applicants who lined up to register within the 30- meter radius from the Office of the Election Officer ( OEO) by 3 p. m. of Sept. 30, 2019, will be promptly and consecutively listed down.
Each name will be announced repeatedly three times in the order in which the applicants’ names were listed. Applicants who are not present when their names are called shall no longer be allowed to file their application.
When an applicant’s name is called and he/she is present, his/ her application will be processed and his/ her biometrics data will be captured. The process continues until all those listed shall have been processed.
Jimenez said an express lane was provided for persons with disabilities, senior citizens and heavily pregnant applicants.
As of Sept. 21, 2019, the running total of the number of applications processed nationwide stands at 2,645,446. The registration period started on Aug. 1, 2019.
Applicants are advised to proceed to the OEO in their city or municipality, or any satellite registration center in their locality, where they intend to vote, and present at least one valid ID.