Supreme Court unanimously acted in favor of KABATAAN PARTYLIST'S petition to extend voters' registration to January 9 2010. For those who haven't registered yet, Go out and Register!
SC extends voter’s registration until Jan. 9
MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court Tuesday upheld a petition by a youth party-list group and directed the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to extend voter registration up to Jan. 9.
Comelec Chair Jose Melo said the commission would carry out the court’s directive, but expressed concern that it could hamper preparations for the country’s first nationwide computerized elections in May.
In the House of Representatives, Speaker Prospero Nograles said lawmakers, worried over delays in the Comelec timetable, were looking at the possibility of conducting a “hybrid” poll automation, combining manual counting and electronic transmission of results.
In a nine-page unanimous decision, the Supreme Court nullified a Comelec resolution that had set the deadline for registration on Oct. 31. The exercise began in December 2008.
The decision penned by Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales found merit in Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino’s petition citing the Voter’s Registration Act of 1996.
“The clear text of the law,” the court said, “decrees that voters be allowed to register daily during regular office hours, except during the period starting 120 days before a regular election and 90 days before a special election.”
The tribunal held that the Electoral Reforms Law of 1987 and the Automated Elections Law gave Comelec the authority to fix periods and dates for pre-election activities only if they could not be reasonably held within the period provided by law.
It added that Congress itself had determined that the period of 120 days before a regular election or 90 days before a special election was enough time for the Comelec to make all the necessary preparations for the coming elections.
These preparations include completion of project precincts, composing the boards of election inspectors, finalizing the computerized voter’s list, supervision of the campaign period, and preparation, bidding, printing and distribution of voter’s information sheet.
10 days early
Palatino argued that the deadline for voter’s registration on Oct. 31 was 70 days earlier than that prescribed by the law.
He said previously that the Comelec should not completely blame those who had failed to register, pointing out the poll body was responsible for ensuring that there would be an efficient registration process that could accommodate as many voters as possible even in the crush of deadline.
4M disenfranchised
Citing data from the National Statistics Office, Palatino said the Comelec disenfranchised roughly 4 million first-time voters when it stopped accepting new registrants on Oct. 31.
He said that there were 3.8 million first-time voters from age group 18 to 19 alone, while half of the 8.8 million in the age group 20 to 24 could be projected as new registrants for 2010.
“Based from this data, we can roughly project at least 7 million first-time voters for 2010,” Palatino said.
Melo told reporters the poll body set an early deadline to allow more time for the printing of ballots. Each ballot is expected to be two feet long and will contain on each side 300 names of aspirants for various contests from the president down to municipal councils.
He voiced apprehension that the names of new voters submitted next month would not be able to reach the precincts on time. “It would be difficult to update the list. The certified voter’s lists are already on the pipeline,” Melo said.
According to the Comelec calendar, the National Printing Office should start printing the ballots by the first week of January.
The Comelec recently said that there were 49,225,089 Filipinos who had registered to participate in the 2010 presidential and national polls, up from 45.02 million in 2007 and 43.5 million in 2004.
Hybrid automation option
Nograles said that he was keeping the bill of Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia for a manual count and electronic transmission in case there was a need for legislation to shift from full automation to hybrid.
Education Secretary Jesli Lapus on Monday said that the start of the training program for 400,000 teachers set last month had been moved back to either March or April.
Nograles said that this was unacceptable as it would only give the teachers less than three months to prepare.
“I recall that the P11-billion budget specifically stated that the training of teachers should last at least six months,” he said.
Machines’ delivery delayed
The counting machine supplier, Smartmatic-Total Information Management Inc. (TIM), informed the Comelec that the first batch of 42,000 units would only be delivered by January due to heavy sea traffic and the high shipping cost during the holidays.
Nograles said the delivery of the machines and the training of teachers were necessary to carry out full automation under the law or else the government had to map out contingency plans in case the suppliers fail to come up with their end of the deal.
“We’re really concerned about the delays,” he said.
Triumph, says Bro. Eddie
Bro. Eddie Villanueva, presidential candidate of Bangon Pilipinas Party, said that the court ruling was a “triumph” for the Filipino voters.
In a statement, Villanueva described the upcoming vote as “the most important to the country after the restoration of democratic institutions in 1986.”
“Filipinos are crying for genuine change. They see the 2010 elections as the key to effectuate this change,” he said.
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