Elections Officer Kathrina Trinio Caña debunked claims that the bulk of those registering to vote before the Bacolod Commission on Elections at the University of St. La Salle Coliseum are transferee voters from towns and cities of Negros Occidental.
Caña, in a virtual press conference Thursday, September 30, also said COVID-19 health protocols, including social distancing, are being observed inside the USLS premises in response to the Bacolod Emergency Operations Center claim that their voter registration is a super spreader for COVID-19.
That is why the COMELEC sought the help of the police, Task Force Disiplina and the City Legal Office in controlling the crowds outside the USLS premises, Caña pointed out.
Caña said after the COMELEC gives queue numbers to 500 people for the day, others in line are informed that they can no longer be accommodated and must leave.
They are only showing the pictures of the crowds outside USLS that the COMELEC sought the police and the Task Force Disiplina of the city government to help control, they are not showing the orderly registration within USLS Coliseum, she said.
Caña was reacting to a press release from the city government that the satellite registration of the Comelec at the USLS is a COVID-19 super spreader activity with hundreds, if not thousands, of prospective “out-of-town transferee-voters” being allegedly unloaded by vehicles of Negros Occidental local government units at the USLS grounds and Ayala Malls.
She asked if they were able to provide proof that out-of-town vehicles were unloading the registrants at the USLS.
Caña said COMELEC data shows that of the 2,075 who registered to vote from Monday to Wednesday at the USLS Coliseum, 1,283 were new registrants from Bacolod City.
Not all of the 455 seeking transfer of voter registration were from towns and cities of Negros Occidental, there were others from the National Capital Region, Cebu and even Zamboanga who returned to Bacolod because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said. They have even shown proof that they were born in Bacolod, she added.
And those from other parts of Negros Occidental were asked to submit supporting documents that they are now residing in Bacolod City, Caña said.
She said if there are those opposing their registration they can always file their opposition before the Election Registration Board.
The remaining 337 were Bacolod residents seeking reactivation of their voter registration, the transfer of their registration from one Bacolod barangay to another, or to have their status corrected, she said
“These are facts based on statistics,” Caña stressed.
She said the huge crowds wanting to register at Comelec offices at the last minute are not only happening in Bacolod City but all over the country, so why are they singling out Bacolod.
It is a Filipino trait to wait for the last minute to register, she said.
Voter registration started in July 2019, was halted during the COVID pandemic in March last year and resumed in July.
She said the registration of voters in Bacolod will resume on October 11 and to 31 and may be held at malls for more space, but she is hoping they will also be able to use the USLS Coliseum again.*