DAVAO CITY – A regional Commission on Elections (Comelec) official on Thursday urges the voters to register their biometrics information in order to vote in the upcoming election on 2016.
Comelec Assistant Regional Director Atty. Marlon Casquejo said that there are still a lot of registered voters here who have not validated their biometrics registration.
“There are still a lot of voters in Davao City who do not have biometrics. We have a total of 179,967. If we think of it, we only have five months left,” Casquejo said.
Biometrics data refer to the automated identification of an individual, such as photograph, fingerprint, and signature.
These 179,967 are registered voters who have yet to register for biometrics.
“To be honest, 179,967 is difficult. We have to have more than 300 voters per day who will register for biometrics,” he said.
He also said that those who will fail to register their biometrics information will be considered unregistered and will not be able to vote.
“Here in Davao, we have around 708,000 voters who already have biometrics,” he said.
“The usual peope who do not have biometrics are those who registered before 2004,” he added.
Casquejo said that they have already sent to barangays last year the lists of voters without biometrics.
“We already sent a final notice. Once you received that, you can go directly to our office to have your biometrics,” he said.
He also reminded the officials who plan to run next election to validate their biometrics registration.
“We have an incumbent official who does not have biometrics, if he cannot register for that, his name will be removed. He cannot run for the election,” Casquejo said.
“Our usual problem is during the deadline when people cram to register or get their biometrics,” he said.
The biometrics registration for old voters started May 6 last year and the last day of filing will be on October 31.
The Mandatory Biometrics Registration Act of 2013 states that voters who fail to submit for validation on or before the last day of filing of application for registration for purposes of the May 2016 elections shall be deactivated.(davaotoday.com)
