Comelec: Moves to amend Charter to affect voter signup

MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday said the move to amend the 1987 Constitution through people’s initiative may affect the holding of voter registration for the May 2025 polls, which is set to resume next month.

Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said there is a possibility that the activity will be suspended to hold the plebiscite for the people’s initiative.

“We hope we can do it simultaneously. However, we will really have to sacrifice one in favor of another,” he said in a media interview.

“In the event that we set a date for the plebiscite later on, we will need to suspend voter registration. It is provided under the law that there cannot be voter registration activities 90 days before special elections and 120 days before regular elections. A plebiscite is a kind of special election,” he added.

The Comelec is set to resume nationwide voter registration activities on Feb. 12, 2024, and will run until Sept. 30, 2024. Under Republic Act No. 8189, no registration shall be conducted 120 days before a regular election and 90 days before a special election.

Based on Comelec’s latest figures, there are 726 cities and municipalities that have submitted signature pages to local Comelec offices for the proposed people’s initiative. Garcia noted that holding voter registration may be difficult if the Comelec reaches the verification of signatures.

“We don’t have enough personnel to manage two major activities... The personnel we will use for verification will also be the ones we will tap for voter registration,” he said. /