MANILA, Philippines -- The sight of so many people queueing up before the offices of the Commission on Elections and failing to register is, at one and the same time, moving and pathetic. It tells us that there is no shortage of citizens who want to do the right thing; it shows us that next year’s elections have caught the imagination of the young, and that the future of the democratic project looks robust.
It also reminds us that we are our own worst enemies, that we continue to live in a culture that rewards those who persist in doing things at the last minute.
In some areas, the last-minute applicants’ failure to register ended in heated words, with insults and threats directed at election officials. It was, as the young themselves like to say these days, “intense.”
That intensity is part of the reason why there is a clamor for the Commission to extend the registration period, which ended on All Saints’ weekend. Other reasons are more naive (e.g., the ideal of a perpetual registration system); others less noble (the usual political positioning). But, at the risk of being misperceived as encouraging the art of procrastination, we would like to suggest that the Comelec reconsider the issue and—if there is still time—extend the registration period, even if only for a week, or a day or two.
It bears emphasizing: The Comelec has not been remiss in its duty of promoting the election franchise. It launched a continuing registration system for new voters or transferees last December—in other words, first-time voters and those who have relocated and could no longer vote in their old precincts had 10 months in which to register. In the home stretch of the registration campaign, the Comelec added four more hours to its working day, ending at 9 p.m. to accommodate more registrants. It extended its reach by conducting registration drives in barangay halls and in malls.
It is also important to stress that the Comelec has a very tight schedule to follow, to allow it to conduct the country’s first nationwide automated elections.
In the last week of registration, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez explained in clear terms exactly why the registration deadline must be met. “We need to close the list [of voters] by the end of November for the allocation of precincts. [Unless that is done,] we cannot determine the number of ballots and other supplies [to be shipped to all precincts] so we need to close on a certain day.”
After the Comelec folded its tents and packed its benches, Chairman Jose Melo gave another reason why the deadline could no longer be extended. “No extension because we still have to allot time for the disqualification [process]. For one reason or another, we have to decide on the nuisance candidates within a period of one month only—from December to January.”
We understand these and similar limitations on the election agency’s freedom of movement; the last thing anyone would want is for automated elections to fail, or for election day to descend into chaos, because the Comelec proved slow in closing the gates on new voters. And yet, we make bold to ask: Is there really no more time to accommodate hundreds of thousands of would-be voters? We understand the case against extension. Jimenez, usually diplomatic in his answers, put the matter bluntly last week: “The problem is that a lot of people wait until the last minute. The reminder to register is in the news nearly every day. Why didn’t they register then?”
He’s right—that is the problem. But considering the fundamental nature of what’s at stake, it seems incumbent on all of us to offer a solution. Perhaps we can call on the Comelec, at the very least, to review the timetable and then discuss, in public, the consequences of one or two or more additional days of registration.
