TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Sept 12 (PIA) –Beginning Friday, September 20 until 29, Filipino Citizens 15-17 years old on or before February 21, 2015, who were not registered yet, who have established residency in the last six months in his barangay, will have to register to be eligible to vote in the upcoming Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.
This too as President Benigno Aquino III signed in October last year, Republic Act No. 10632, which postponed the SK polls originally set on Oct. 28 that year.
The postponement law saw signed to allow Congress to reform the much-politicized and graft-tainted youth council. The reform did not happen as yet.
“In the wake of calls for its abolition, Congress instead voted to postpone the elections in order to have time to pass a law that would either amend or revise the SK system. No such law has been passed, however, and so now the SK elections will have to be held, this time on Feb. 21, 2015,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in a statement.
At this, consequently, the Commission on Elections promulgated Resolution No. 9899, which set the election officer’s offices in the towns and every city, the venue for registration in the upcoming SK polls.
The law also set the time span between October 28, 2014 to February 23, 2015, as the period within which, the Comelec could set the SK elections calendar.
Aside from the registration of voters, the COMELEC needs to allow candidates to submit their certificates of candidacies, put up other election activities like campaigns,
The Comelec in Bohol, through election supervisor Atty Eliseo Labaria, said applicants for registration need to bring any of the following documents: certificate of live birth, baptismal certificate, school records or any document that would establish one’s identity and qualifications.
“If these documents are not available, any person may, under oath, identify the applicant,” Jimenez said.
In a previous statement carried by national papers, Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes admitted the poll agency was keen on pushing for another postponement of the SK elections prior to the May 2016 presidential and local polls.
This is so that the SK polls could not as much disrupt the government’s preparations for the larger election, Comelec sources said.
To probably save on costs, saving a necessity in the Comelec, Commissioner Brillantes hinted they would try to have the next SK polls.
The Comelec proposed that the next SK polls be held simultaneously with the regular barangay elections scheduled in October 2016. (PIABohol/ RAC)
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