Time to register

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor CEDELF P. TUPAS Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The Commission on Elections has announced that the Barangay and Sangganiang Kabataan elections will definitely be held on October 29, 2007. And so, with one election not quite completed yet, we will be preparing for another one, which is expected to take place in less than four months.

With the announcement, the Commission is also urging those who have reached the legal voting age of 18 to register themselves starting July 15. The registration will be available only for one week, and will end on July 22, so those who qualify must take the time to present themselves before the Comelec-designated places so they can begin exercising their right to suffrage.

The local Comelec has also announced that, aside from new registrants, it will also attend to those who wish to transfer from one precinct to another that is more convenient for them, or where they now reside, if they are new in the towns or cities where they want to voce from hereon. Other services with regards to their status in the current lists of voters will be entertained within the days specified.

As for the election for the Sangguniang Kabataan which will be held simultaneously, the call is being issued for those 15 years old and below 18, who can register right on election day. Despite the disappointment, and maybe even disgust that many of our people have displayed before, during and after the latest elections, let us still encourage people, especially the young ones to do their duty by their country and get themselves registered. Recent changes in the manner of registration have ensured that the old schemes of using flying or fake voters by unscrupulous candidates are now being gradually exposed and eliminated. This was shown during the last revalidation of voters lists when so many names were removed when they were found out to belong to non-existent people or non-residents of the areas they had been registered in.

Let us not discourage our young people from participating in this most important privilege of their citizenship because it is their sector, especially, from whom we can expect more reforms in the coming years.*