Senate Bill Extending Voter Registration Approved on Second Reading

On Wednesday, Senate Bill No. 2408, an Act Extending the Registration of Voters for the 2022 National and Local Elections sailed through its second reading approval in the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri filed the bill on Monday after the adoption of the concurrent resolution between the Senate and the House of Representatives, urging the Commission on Elections to extend voter registration.

The bill extends the registration period to 31 October 2021, a month after the current deadline of 30 September 2021 set by COMELEC. Along with Zubiri, twenty-two other senators co-authored the bill.

"Given that the registration period was suspended for over five months due to various community lockdowns across the country, it is only right that we push the deadline back, and give our people a chance to come out and register, and exercise their right of suffrage," Zubiri said.

In August, COMELEC reported that 61 million Filipinos have registered. This falls short of the Philippine Statistics Authority's projected voting population of 73.3 million.

"Ready naman pong bumoto ang mamamayang Pilipino," Zubiri insisted. "Maghapon silang pumipila sa registration centers. Pero kulang po talaga ang oras."

"Let's give our people a chance to come out and register, dahil requisite iyan sa karapatan nilang bumoto at makibahagi sa ating demokrasya."