Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas has appealed to the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) en banc to extend the voter registration period for the 2022 elections.

According to the mayor, the registration of new voters was hampered and postponed several times due to the city’s stringent quarantine status.

“The city has been placed under a series of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) in the past few months,” Treñas noted.

“The current situation brought by the pandemic has made it hard for some citizens to register on the given schedule thus the need for the extension and more citizens will be able to register and exercise their precious rights to vote,” he added.

The mayor stressed that the extension for another 30 days “would allow more Filipinos to exercise their right to vote and to elect those who they think would be the best leaders for our nation.”

“As a democratic country, the voice of the people is important and relevant in the government. A huge number of new voters are yet to register,” Treñas said.

The deadline for registration of voters who wish to vote in next year’s elections is Sept. 30.

So far, the COMELEC-Iloilo City has registered 8, 666 new voters.IMT