BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
The Commission on Elections in Bacolod City is investigating the identity of a man seen organizing Bacolodnons, having them line up the night before the opening of the satellite voters’ registration at Robinsons Place Bacolod.
Bacolod Election Officer Kathrina Trinio-Caña, meanwhile, said they are urging city officials to review the implementation of the curfew ordinance since most of the registrants queuing at night are minors between 15 to 17 years-old.
Trinio-Caña said they don’t encourage people to line up a night before the opening of the registration which officially starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 5.p.m., as mandated by the Comelec. The registration is being conducted on a first come, first served basis.
Robinsons Place Bacolod firmly discouraged registrants from lining up a day before the opening of the registration, she said after hundreds of registrants were seen queueing outside the mall Sunday.
Trinio-Caña said they can accommodate only about 600 registrants per day including senior citizens, persons with disabilities (PWD) and pregnant women.
Only police officers and members of the Bacolod Traffic Authority Office (BTAO) are authorized to organize registrants outside the mall as they were the ones tasked to ensure peace and order during the conduct of the registration which will end on Saturday, she said.
The Comelec only release queue numbers at the entrance of the mall at 7 a.m., as authorizing someone else will only cause confusion, she added.
Trinio-Caña said they also issue 550 numbers for barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) applicants per day. The remaining 50 is for senior citizens, PWDs, heavily pregnant women and indigenous peoples (IPs).
As of July 17, Comelec-Bacolod recorded more than 6,000 registrants. Documents of all the registrants will be subject to the election registration board (ERB) hearing on August 1, she said.*
