The nationwide voter registration will resume once a law postponing the 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) is enacted, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Tuesday.
“If the proposals are passed and the postponement of the December 5, 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections amended/repealed/modified Republic Act (R.A.) No. 11462, the Comelec will implement RA (Republic Act) 8189 or the System of Continuing Registration Act,” Comelec acting spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said in a statement.
He also said the schedule of the resumption of voter registration nationwide will depend on when President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signs the bill passed by Congress into law.
“If the law is passed by Congress and signed into law in September 2022, voter’s registration can start again in October 2022. The end of the voter’s registration is based on when the BSKE: If May 2023, Voter’s Registration can be from October – December 2022. If BSKE is December 2023, it will be from October 2022 to June 2023,” Laudiangco added.
In 2019, former President Rodrigo Duterte signed RA 11462 which postponed the May 2020 BSKE to December 2022.
It stated that village polls after December 2022 will subsequently take place on the first Monday of December 2025 and every three years thereafter.
There are at least three measures calling for the postponement of the December 2022 BSKE that have been filed in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
In these bills, the village and youth polls are proposed to be rescheduled to either May 2023, December 2023, or May 2024. (PNA)