BONTOC, Mt. Prov. – The Commission on Election (COMELEC) reiterated its “No Bio, No Boto” policy in next year’s election as it also reminds qualified voters of the province of the October 31 deadline of the Biometrics registration.
Under Republic Act 10369 or the Mandatory Biometrics Voter Registration Act, those who fail to have their biometrics taken prior to the May 2016 elections shall be deactivated from the voters’ list and not be allowed to vote.
Biometrics registration refers to the process of taking the voter’s picture, fingerprints and signature specimens and encoded in a computer system.
COMELEC provincial office data show that as of July 20, 2015 there are still 11,173 registered voters without biometrics data while 53 have incomplete biometric data, out of the province’s 98,058 total registered voters.
The municipality of Natonin has the most number of registered voters without or incomplete biometrics data at 18.83 percent, followed by Paracelis at 15.70%, Besao – 14.82%, Sagada – 10.84%, Bontoc – 10.83%, Bauko – 10.10%, Sadanga – 8.30%, Barlig – 7.93%, Tadian – 7.42% and Sabangan – 7.31%.
Natonin Municipal Election Officer Wagner Chugsayan encourages voters with incomplete or no biometrics data to submit themselves to their respective municipal COMELEC offices for registrations and validations. He added that those qualified voters without or incomplete biometric data will automatically be deactivated from the voters list at the end of the biometrics registration on October 31, 2015 and will not be allowed to vote in next year’s national and local elections./JDP/ ABD- PIA CAR, Mountain Province
