TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The Tabuk City Election Office (COMELEC-Tabuk) recorded around 5,000 new voters for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections set on December 5, 2022.
The twenty-day long registration period ended on July 23 where about 950 of the around 1,500 people in line were accommodated before the cut-off, Tabuk City Election Officer Atty. Reyman Solbita said.
An extension of the registration period is unlikely, Solbita said, unless the elections are postponed once again. The country has not held the barangay and SK elections, which are supposed to be done every three years, since May 2018.
“Haan tayon maka-conduct ti extension ta gahol ti preparation para ti December 5 [elections],” he said, citing the Voter’s Registration Act of 1996 or Republic Act 8189 prohibiting the conduct of registration within 120 days before election day.
“Ngem nu ma-postpone [elections] until next year, sigurado ada manen ti maconduct nga month-long or two months wennu three months nga registration,” Solbita announced during the Monday flag-raising ceremony at the City Hall.
Solbita issued a warning against individuals involved in ‘hakot’, reminding that the practice was punishable by law.
‘Hakot’ refers to the practice of bringing in residents of other places to register to ensure votes.
Solbita said the practice is considered ‘falsification of documents’, an election offense punishable of up to six years imprisonment.
Solbita said many have complained during the registration period of seeing individuals who are allegedly not residents of Tabuk City.
He said complainants have until August 1 to file a petition for exclusion of non-residents. For this purpose, a copy of the list of newly-registered voters will be posted at the City Hall and at the COMELEC-Tabuk office, Solbita said.
The petitions will be tackled during the Election Registration Board (ERB) hearing slated in August as part of the approval process of the applications of the 7,000 new registrants.
“Kaspagarigan ada ti exclusion, maipayab amin nga respondents, i-prove da a nga resident da,” he said.
“Nu maduktalan nga haan da nga taga-idiay, maidarum pay ni kapitan or kagawad nga nag-issue ti barangay certification. Isu met nga ilinlinis tayo tatta ti registration ti ubbing ta iwasan tayo dayta dindinnarum,” Solbita said.
