First week of voter registration gathers more than 29K registrants
IN THE first week of voter registration, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) received a total of 29,147 applications in Central Visayas for the May 2025 midterm elections.
Of the number, 19,659 are from Cebu, 5,184 are from Negros Oriental, 3,417 are from Bohol and 887 are from Siquijor, according to Comelec Cebu spokesperson Omar Sharif Mamalinta on Monday, Feb. 19, 2024.
However, he did not provide a breakdown for each town and city in the provinces. He said of the total registrants, 14,580 are male, while 14,567 are female.
Mamalinta said the initial figure encompasses registrations from the start of the voter registration on Feb. 12 up to the sixth day, Feb. 17.
Election offices nationwide will accept voter registrations even on weekends and holidays, except for March 28-30 in observance of Holy Week.
The poll body earlier announced that the voter registration will continue until Sept. 30.
Register anywhere
Meanwhile, Mamalinta said they are expecting an increase in registrants as they are scheduled to conduct satellite registration events through the Register Anywhere Program (RAP), with two events scheduled in Cebu City and Mandaue City.
RAP’s nationwide implementation aims to expand voter registration options in areas with high foot traffic and eligible voters’ gatherings.
There will be a RAP event at the University of San Carlos (USC) Talamban Campus in Cebu City on Feb. 27 and at Cebu Doctors’ University (CDU) in Mandaue City on Feb. 28.
There will be a voter education event expected to gather 1,000 participants in CDU, along with simultaneous voter registrations via RAP for students and faculty members of the school. He did not specify the expected number of participants for USC.
He said institutions and offices could ask to hold satellite registrations in various places like malls, universities and barangays. However, he emphasized that there should be a minimum of 200 registrants.
Mamalinta added that for the time being, they would focus on accommodating the registration requests being processed in different election offices.