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Last Saturday's misfortune that befell nearly 2,000 would-be registrants in the cities of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu would qualify as a case of “we told you so” on the part of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Sign up at the last minute – when you had 10 months to do so, and you truly risk running out of time.
But there is more to the failure of these residents than simple neglect and ignorance.
Across the country, particularly in the Visayas and Mindanao which was largely spared the wrath of tropical storms “Peping” and “Santi”, Filipinos who failed to make the cutoff time for the Oct. 31 registration want the Comelec to give them an extension even if only for a day.
One partylist group is moving to file a petition in court in order not to disenfranchise those who failed to make the deadline.
The Comelec reported 2.6 milllion new voters as of June 30. With “last-minutitis” afflicting Pinoy would-be voters, that number is expected to swell.
Would it be prudent for Comelec to give a one-day extension for registration for non-typhoon stricken areas?
If we go by the tight schedule for automated elections, the answer would be a definite no.
As it is, the Comelec is under pressure working out arrangements with Smartmatic-TIM for the delivery of 80,000 Precinct Optical Scan (PCO) units, ensuring Internet or satellite connections for every barangay, and other logistics details for ths historic change.
And we're not yet talking about the Comelec receiving the filing of certificates of candidacies on Nov. 20 to 30 or the vetting of applications for party list accredition.
A one-day extension would disrupt the Comelec timetable and give political parties justification to register their election protests in the event that the poll agency somehow failed to include these voters in the final master list.
New voters or transferees were given since December last year to register for the elections. As the Comelec officials time and again reminded the public, it takes only 30 minutes to complete the registration process. (However, those who flocked in the last frantic few weeks found themselves lining up for half-a day or longer.)
And now thousands still failed to catch the last bus.
Finger-pointing and casting blame at this time are useless. Those who failed to sign up weren't disenfranchised; they simply forfeited their right to vote for one reason or another. The mañana habit counts as a major reason.
The upside is that the scramble for registration, especially among first-time voters, showed an enthusiasm to participate in a historic election. Look at the crowds and tell us a “No-Election” scenario is a threat . There’s no way can you take an election away from Pinoys.
