Registered voters to reach some 85T in Biliran
By
RODRIGO S. VICTORIA (PIA Biliran)
January 9, 2007
NAVAL, Biliran – As the
registration of voters scheduled by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) ended
last December 31, 2006, the Provincial Election Supervisor (PES) of this
province has estimated that the number of registered voters in the province of
Biliran will reach to some 85 thousand.
According to Atty. Sabino C.
Mejarito, PES of Comelec-Biliran, in an interview with PIA Monday, the big
turn-out in the registration of voters in each of the eight municipal election
offices in the province showed that there is a significant increase in the
number of new registered voters especially those coming from the youth sector.
The PES also informed that
those who just submitted their registration form and whose respective biometrics
like pictures, fingerprint and signature have not been taken yet thru computer
due to insufficiency of time last December 31, 2006. More new registrants will
be accommodated until January 7, 2007 in all Comelec offices nationwide
He said that based on the
latest statistical data of Comelec-Biliran there are already 79,058 registered
voters in the province of
Biliran
as determined by the members of the Election Registration Board (ERB) as of the
last hearing conducted on October 16, 2006.
He explained that the ERB
which is composed of election officer as chairman and district supervisor and
local civil registrar as members is the body that will scrutinize to determine
whether one is considered a qualified voter or not.
It is also during ERB hearings
conducted that any opposition or who sought the disqualification of person who
filed an application for voter’s registration will be heard and be granted to
any person or party in interest, Atty. Mejarito said.
He said that the decrease in
the number of registered voters from 81,963 based on the 2004 elections records
to 79,058 in October 16, 2006 is due to the exclusion from the lists of
registered voters the names of voters who died already, transferees and those
who failed to vote twice during the regular scheduled elections as determined by
the members of the ERB in its hearings conducted, Atty. Mejarito said.
Of the 79,058 registred voters
in the province of
Biliran
as of October 16, 2006, Naval has 20,916 registered voters, followed by Kawayan
with 10,884, Caibiran-10,447, Cabucgayan-9,828, Biliran-8,088, Almeria-7,817,
Culaba-7,005 and the island
municipality
of Maripipi with 4,103.
Atty. Mejarito added that the
ERB provincewide will conduct a series of hearings from January 8 to 12 this
year to all voter’s registration applications submitted to the respective
municipal election offices from October 17 up to December 31, 2006 in order to
determine the total official number of registered voters in the province of
Biliran who are eligible to vote for the 2007 elections.
He also said that based on the
raw data received from the Comelec municipal offices in the province, the
municipality of Naval posts the highest number of new registrants with more than
4,000 and more than 1,000 also for the other municipalities except for Maripipi
which recorded a low voter’s registration percentage. These raw data of voter’s
registration from the eight municipalities are still subject for ERB hearings
which are scheduled this month.
The big turn-out of voter’s
registration in the
province
of Biliran is an indication of the willingness of the Biliranons to exercise
their right of suffrage as mandated by law and as provided by a democratic
society like the Philippines, Atty. Mejarito said.
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