• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A day before the voter’s registration ends on January 31, the Commission on Elections logged 47,287 new voters, including 11,640 categorized as Sangguniang Kabataan, or those aged 15 to 17 years old, in Negros Occidental.
While they have not set a number of targeted new voters, Provincial Comelec supervisor Atty. Ian Lee Ananoria said that reaching 50,000 new voters “is good enough.”
Ananoria also said that they have not received any word from Comelec central office on an extension of voters’ registration, which is expected to end 5 p.m. of Jan. 31.
He however said that all registrants already lined up 30 meters away from their registration center after the 5:00 p.m. deadline will be accommodated.
Of the 32 local government units in Negros Occidental, Bacolod City topped the list in number of new voters at 12,482, followed by San Carlos City at 3,073, Silay City at 2,502, and the town of Murcia with 2,083 registrants.
Ananoria attributed the high number of new voters’ registration, especially the SK, to their satellite registration and campaign in schools.
He also noted that registration of new voters was high in some LGUs, while it has slowed down in other areas.
Don Salvador Benedicto has the smallest number of registered new voters at 340, as of Jan. 28.*
