BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
Satellite voters’ registration in areas in Bacolod City with zero Covid cases for the last 14 days will be conducted soon.
Kathrina Triño Caña, city registrar of the Commission on Elections, said they will coordinate with the Emergency Operations Center for the identification of areas where they can conduct the satellite voters’ registration.
Caña said they will also ask permission from the local Inter-Agency Task Force before conducting the activity.
She also apologized that they could not accommodate all applicants as much as they want to, as they need to limit their transaction at the Comelec Bacolod to a day.
Caña noted that, currently, they are operating only at 50 percent capacity, adding that those who want to be prioritized should book an appointment online through irehestro.comelec.gov.ph.
Comelec accommodates 50 online appointments daily but sometimes, many of them do not appear on their schedules.
Several applicants aired complaints that they line up as early as 4 a.m. only to learn that their application could no longer be processed as Comelec only accommodates certain number of individuals a day.
The long queues of Comelec applicants reach the area in front of the Negros Press Club building almost daily.
Caña reiterated that they allow only a certain number of people at a given time because they noticed that some applicants who come from the Bacolod Respiratory and Outpatient center, would go to their office after their swab test.
There were also instances when the applicants have a lot of chaperones, making the vicinity of Comelec crowded, she said.
As of last week, the Comelec had accommodated 1,830 new applicants, transferees, those who seek correction in their entries, and those up for reactivation. Comelec Bacolod only accommodates 180 individuals, both with or without online appointments, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mondays to Fridays.*
