(Eagle News) — Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Tuesday, July 3, urged the newly elected officials of Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) to encourage more than a million qualified youth to register for the 2019 national and local elections.
“Approximately 1.5 million Filipinos were born between June 2000 and April 2001 — these are young men and women who are qualified to register for the 2019 midterm polls but were too young to register for the May 2018 barangay elections,” Pimentel, chair of the Senate Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation Committee, said in a statement.
He said the figure was “a significant portion of our population, one that should be given a say in choosing their leaders.”
He said SK officials were in a position to encourage their constituents to register.
“If they have the capacity to mount campaigns to secure votes, they can surely conduct campaigns to get unregistered youth to register and vote,” Pimentel said.
“I believe it is important to impress upon our youth that voting is the duty of every responsible citizen, and one of the concrete ways one can influence the direction of government,” he added.
Earlier, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced that the voter registration for the May 23, 2019 polls would resume on July 2 until September 29, 2018 with the exception of Marawi City, Lanao del Sur.
Unregistered Filipinos aged 18 and above by election day are encouraged to register at the Offices of the Election Officer (OEOs) of the city, district, or municipality where they reside from Monday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., including holidays.
Comelec said satellite registrations will also be conducted in barangays, public plazas, schools, and other public places.
Aside from applications for new registration, Comelec assured that applications for reactivation, transfer/transfer with reactivation, correction of entry, and inclusion/reinstatement of records in the list of voters will be accepted.