October 14 (PIA6) — Offices of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) throughout the country will be opening its doors for 12 hours daily from Monday to Sunday starting October 17 to October 31, 2015, the deadline for voters’ validation.
According to COMELEC-Aklan Provincial Election Officer Atty. Ian Lee Ananoria, the move is to have longer office hours in order to serve better those who would be flocking to Municipal COMELEC offices either to have their biometrics taken to validate their voters’ status, to register, transfer, or correct entries in order to be able to vote in the May 9, 2016 national and local elections.
In Aklan, Atty. Ananoria said they are still awaiting orders or agreement among themselves on the appropriate start of office hours to cater to the public for the various services.
“It could be from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. or 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. for as long as time rendered is 12 hours, and the time is appropriate enough for people to start going to COMELEC offices”, Atty. Ananoria said.
Only Municipal COMELEC offices will be entertaining individuals for validation, registration and other services but Atty. Ananoria said the Provincial COMELEC office will also be open on the said dates.
Meanwhile, a mini-briefing of the Aklan media was held October 12 at the Provincial COMELEC Office by COMELEC-Aklan Information Officer Chrispin Raymund Gerardo with inputs from Atty. Ananoria and COMELEC-Kalibo Election Officer Atty. Rommel Benliro on updates regarding the filing of Certificates of Candidacies (COCs) of aspiring candidates in the province which started October 12 up to October 16, 2015, as well on the start of the election period and prohibited acts.
Gerardo told the Aklan media that some individuals have started submitting their COCs but other towns have zero filers yet.
Gerardo reminded the media that the election period will start on January 10, 2016 with accompanying prohibitions like banning, transfer, shuffling of government employees; gun ban including carrying ammunition/gun parts; and possessing/carrying of deadly weapons.
For his part, COMELEC-Kalibo Election Officer II Atty. Benliro said that COMELEC-Aklan is set to go around the province in a roadshow presentation to show to the public the new machines which will be used in the elections.
The roadshow will be conducted in the eastern and western part of the province by December 2015 or January 2015, according to Atty. Benliro.
Atty. Benliro also took the opportunity to appeal to the local media on the need for Kalibonhons who have not validated yet to proceed already to the Kalibo COMELEC Office to have their biometrics data taken and not to wait for the deadline.
Atty. Benliro said that of Aklan’s 17 towns, Kalibo has still the highest number of voters with no validation.
“Most of these voters are from Poblacion Kalibo, Estancia and Andagao, three of the vote-richest barangays in Kalibo”, Benliro said.
Atty. Benliro said that Kalibo has still more or less 3,000 voters with no biometrics. (JCM/VGV PIA6 Aklan)
