Comelec: 10-day registration period for BSKE

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said registration for the Dec. 1 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) will be held within a 10-day period only.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia said a longer registration period is not possible, given the limited time they have to prepare for the BSKE.

“The Comelec will open registration this July, but we cannot have it for a long period of time. Only 10 days will be devoted for registration – we have 10 days to accommodate so many deactivated voters, voters that would want transfer of registration and young members of the voting population,” Garcia said during the official launch on Friday of the Kaisa Project for the 2025 BSKE.

The Kaisa Project aims to seek the assistance and cooperation of the different sectors, such as citizens’ arms, youth, women and indigenous peoples, in line with the preparation for the BSKE.

The Comelec chief said that if registered voters for the BSKE reached around 70 million, they will be printing at least three additional ballots per precinct.

“In manual elections, every precinct is provided three extra ballots because many of our kababayans, since they would be writing the names of the candidates, have the tendency to commit errors,” Garcia explained.

He added, “We give them a chance since our existing law for the BSKE is a bit old, that is why we have to follow the distribution of three (extra) ballots per precinct as provided in our BSKE law. Erasure is also allowed.”

Apart from the BSKE, Garcia said the Comelec is also getting ready for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Parliamentary Elections or BPE to be held on Oct. 13.

The BPE was supposed to be held simultaneously with the last May 12 midterm elections. However, President Marcos signed into law a measure postponing the first parliamentary elections in the BARMM.

Meanwhile, Garcia said payment of 98 percent of the honoraria for Electoral Board members has already been made.

About 800,000 members of the Electoral Board that will receive the honoraria.