BONTOC, Mountain Province – The Provincial election Office disclosed that there are some five thousand nine hundred eighty-one new registered voters who will be participating in the upcoming December 5, 2022 barangay elections if it will push through.
Provincial election Supervisor lawyer Ricardo Lampac stated that the new registrants availed of the registration period that was opened by the Commission on election (Comelec) which was held from July 1-23, 2022 to allow them to be able to participate in the upcoming barangay polls.
Paracelis had the highest number of new registered voters with 1,665 followed by Bauko with 939 new voters, Tadian – 733, Natonin – 715, Sabangan – 414, Sagada – 412, Bontoc – 332, Besao – 290, Sadanga – 274 and Barlig – 207.
During the last May 9, 2022 synchronized national and local elections, Mountain Province had more than 115,000 registered voters where almost 80 percent of them casted their votes for their chosen national and local leaders.
Lampac explained that the new registrants in the different municipalities will still be subject to confirmation by their respective election registration boards (ERBs) who will be meeting to decide on their fate for the upcoming December barangay elections.
Aside from the new registrants, the provincial election supervisor claimed that part of the same are voters who transferred their voting centers to the different municipalities for them to be able to participate in the selection of their barangay officials once the December barangay polls will push through.
However, Lampac stipulated that the actual number of registrants for the Sangguniang kabataan (SK) elections which also be simultaneously conducted with the December barangay polls have yet to be released because of the ongoing synchronization of data by the different election offices.
He admitted that there were also reports on the increase in the number of registrants for the upcoming SK elections but the figures will still have to be validated and synchronized to ensure that there will be no individual who will be disenfranchised during the upcoming barangay and SK polls by the end of the year.
While there is yet no law that was passed re-scheduling the conduct of the December barangay and SK elections, Lampac pointed out that the poll body will continue to comply with its prescribed timetable for the ongoing preparations so that they will not be behind schedule once the decision to push through with the said elections will be final.
According to him, there are no instructions from the Comelec central office for them to suspend ongoing preparatory activities for the upcoming December barangay and SK elections that is why everyone is busy working on the needed documents and other related events for the successful conduct of the said political exercise.
Mountain Province is one of the most peaceful provinces in the country during the conduct of political exercises because of the zero election-related violence and incidents unlike in other conflict-stricken areas around the archipelago.