Number of voters in Tacloban City now to exceed 100,000

TACLOBAN CITY- The elections officer of this city has revealed that the number of registered voters of this city could very well reach up to more than 100,000, making Tacloban one the vote-rich areas in the entire region.

Lawyer Rosemarie Polistico, city elections officer, said that the exact number of registered voters for Tacloban would be known after the last hearing of the elections registration board (ERB).

The last ERB hearing would be held on November 19, close to three weeks after the last day of registration on October 31.
“But we project that the number of registered voters for Tacloban could very well reach to more than 105,000. We will know the exact figure after our last ERB hearing,” Polistico said.

As of August 22 of this year, the city office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) place the Tacloban registered voters at 98,120.

But prior to the temporary suspension of registration from October 1 to 5 to give way to the filing of the certificates of candidacy for those seeking public offices for the May 13,2013 elections, about 7,791 persons went to the city Comelec office to register.

The listing up has resumed after the filing of the CoCs of candidates ended.

Polistico is encouraging those who are qualified to register in Tacloban as a voter not to wait for the last day of registration. For one to be considered as a qualified voter, one must reside at least six months to where he is currently living.

Previously, some camps made an accusation to Polistico’s independence politically as she was said to have just allowed individuals who are not actually residing in Tacloban to register.

She admitted that indeed there were individuals who went to their office to register who came from places outside Tacloban. “They admitted that they are from Samar, for example. But they chose to register here because they now live and work here in Tacloban,” Polistico said.

“Our duty is just ministerial. We accept their application so long as they meet the requirement. Any question as to their qualification can be questioned or addressed during the ERB hearing,” the city elections official said.

The ERB is composed of city schools superintendent Mariza Magan, city registrar Judy Borja and Polistico as the chair.

Polistico added that if those who opposes the registration of an individual, he can seek for a court action by filing an exclusion proceeding.

“We have to give due process. We cannot just delist or delete the name of a person just because his residency is under question,” Polistico said. (JOEY A. GABIETA)

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Posted by lsde on Oct 11 2012. Filed under Second Story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.