Despite the high turnout on the first day of the resumption of voter registration in the National Capital Region (NCR), the Commission on Election (Comelec) is sticking to its September 30 deadline.
In a brief statement last Monday, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez reported long queues of people applying to become registered voters in their offices in NCR.
“In general these queues remained orderly and compliant with minimum health protocols,” Jimenez said.
To accommodate the large number of registrants, he said many Comelec Offices did not announce cutoffs and accommodated more than the 300 limit per day.
Last week, the Comelec en banc allowed the resumption of voter registration in areas like NCR, which are under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).
Prior to the said policy, only areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified GCQ (MGCQ) were allowed to conduct voter registration.
Comelec decided to relax its restrictions amid the looming deadline for voter registration on Sept. 30, 2021.
Some groups are appealing for an registration extension beyond this month but the Comelec rejected it since it could delay many of its preparations for the 2022 National and Local polls.