ILOILO City – Western Visayas has 263,299 new voters.
They registered for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections this Dec. 5.
The voters’ registration was from July 4 to July 23.
Of these 263,299 new voters, 182,302 were SK voters between 15 to 17 years old.
The 80,979 other voters were 18 years old and older for the barangay polls.
Here’s the Commission on Elections’ breakdown per province of the 182,320 youth voters:
* Aklan – 18,172
* Antique – 17,091
* Capiz – 27,111
* Guimaras – 27,111
* Iloilo – 59,812
* Negros occidental – 55,778
On the other hand here are the new voters for the barangay election s:
* Aklan – 4,890
* Antique – 6,264
* Capiz – 7,568
* Guimaras – 1,064
* Iloilo – 22,510
* Negros Occidental – 36,632
According to Comelec regional director Dennis Ausan, said “Kalabanan gid naton nga mga registrants mga first-time voters,”
Base on Republic Act No. 10742 or the SK Reform Act of 2015, SK voters shall be aged 15 to 30 years while candidates are between 18 to 24 years old.
Last May 9, 2022 national and local elections, registered voters in Region 6 reached 5,026,482 – up 217,643 from 2019 midterm elections’ 4,808,839.
Here’s the breakdown of registered voters per province and highly urbanized city:
* Aklan – 409,938
* Antique – 387,998
* Capiz – 529,079
* Guimaras – 124,076
* Iloilo – 1,628,752
* Iloilo City – 330,470
* Negros Occidental – 1,946,639
* Bacolod City – 327,403
Region 6 has a total of 4,051 barangays.
The other day, Negros Occidental’s 4th District congresswoman Juliet Marie Ferrer revealed that the bill she filed in the House of Representatives calling for the postponement of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections set for December of this year will be approved.
According to Ferrer, the postponement will be approved by lawmakers before the scheduled polls.
She pointed out that the country had just concluded the synchronized national and local elections on May 9, and the government will have to prepare again for the barangay and SK elections in December.
Instead of spending on another electoral exercise, Ferrer said the government can direct its resources to coronavirus pandemic-related programs and help rebuild the economy./PN
