President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared October 30, a Monday, a special non-working day to allow Filipinos to cast their votes in the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (BSKE) elections.
“It is imperative that the people be given the full opportunity to participate in the said elections and exercise their right of suffrage,” according to his proclamation, which was made public on Wednesday, October 11.
Comelec welcomed the declaration saying it would help achieve its goal of a 75 percent voter turnout.
“We actually hoped that October 31 will also be included (in the proclamation). Whenever the non-working days are long, the people will go home to their provinces and make sure they’ll be able to cast their votes,” Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia said.
He added that they want to surpass the voter turnout recorded in the 2018 BSKE which was about 70 percent.
Based on Comelec data, there are a total of 67,839,700 registered voters for the barangay elections while the number of registered youth voters are at 23,254,129.*with report from Ferdinand Patinio/PNA