House, Senate OK bills to extend voter registration
MANILA, Philippines — In a continued bid to compel a resistant Commission on Elections to extend the voter registration period, both chambers of Congress unanimously approved on third and final reading Monday bills seeking to delay the deadline by a month.
Voting 23-0, senators passed Senate Bill No. 2408 which contains a single provision: "The registration of voters for the 2022 National and Local Elections is hereby extended to October 31, 2021."
House Bill No. 10261, which says the last day of registration will be 30 days from the effectivity of the proposed measure, was approved on Monday as well with lawmakers voting 193-0.
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said the upper chamber will adopt the House of Representatives' version of the bill to allow the legislature to dispense with the bicameral conference committee meeting.
After this, the bill will be sent to President Rodrigo Duterte for his signature. "Hopefully the president will sign this request," Zubiri, an administration ally, said.
With the original September 30 deadline fast approaching, lawmakers have pursued every avenue possible to give people more time to register, even delaying the poll body's budget in the Senate last Friday to pressure it to reconsider its rejection of widespread calls to extend the registration period.
The poll body, under pressure from the legislature, finally offered to extend the registration by a week after certificates of candidacy are filed in October but this was shot down by lawmakers who found the proposal lacking.
Comelec last week plead with lawmakers not to force its hand to extend registration by a month, saying the extra preparations necessitated by the pandemic would be affected. — Bella Perez-Rubio with a report from The STAR
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