Late registrants to return Tuesday

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections yesterday bent its rules and allowed registrants in its offices affected by the power outage caused by typhoon “Santi” to come back on Tuesday for their biometrics to be taken.

But Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said this is only for registrants who had submitted their registration forms to election personnel yesterday.

As a procedure, a prospective voter has to fill out the forms and undergo a system in which their photograph, signatures and fingerprints are taken by the Comelec’s data capturing machines.

Melo said the system is dependent on electricity so many registrants were not able to register.

The typhoon had caused power interruption in some parts of Metro Manila and Southern Luzon.

Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, however, clarified that this development could not be considered as an extension of the registration period that ended midnight Saturday.

“We are doing this in consideration of those affected by the power interruption. We understand the situation but this is not considered an extension of registration,” he said.

There have been calls for the Comelec to extend voters’ registration, citing the long queues in registration centers but the agency had repeatedly turned these down.

Sarmiento said they believe that voters had been given enough time to register. The registration period started on Dec. 2, 2008.

“We have given them enough time to register. I think this should be a lesson to people who prefer to do things at the last minute or when it’s near deadline,” he said.