Time is of the essence for all concerned Filipino citizens to heed the call of Commission on Elections Chair Andres Bautista to act as “volunteer voter educators,” by reaching out to the reported 4.3 million registered voters who might be disenfranchised for lack of biometrics data. Most voters do not know whether or not they are already biometrically registered, and some believe that if they had voted in the past elections or have a voter’s ID, they already have biometrics data.
With the reported Internet connectivity project of Manila and Quezon City where free wi-fi hotspot is available to the public, we can assist the Comelec in informing voters how easy it is to find out if they are already biometrically registered.
To do this, just log on to the “Precinct Finder” on the Comelec website. There you would be asked your name and date of birth. After giving this information, Bingo! Precinct Finder tells you your voting status. If it says that your “biometric information is available,” then you are already biometrically registered. If it says “not available” or you lack certain requirements, then you have to go to the nearest Comelec office for validation. Yes, it is as simple as that.
We can choose an area in Manila or Quezon City, say Luneta or Quezon City Circle. Let us all bring our laptop computers and encourage others to do the same. With blank sheets of paper, let us ask people in the area to write their names and dates of birth and let’s verify their voting status from the Precinct Finder. I have done this in a barangay in Pasay City with the assistance of members of the Pasay City Rotary Club. There, 15 members brought their laptop computers and pocket wi-fi and we were able to assist some 400 voters in finding out their registration status.
If we can do this every day in these free wi-fi areas, we would be assisting thousands of voters by giving them information on their voting status. I have asked some principals and teachers to make this a “Special Project of the Month” for their high school students—where each student will be asked to get the names of at least 10 relatives or friends of voting age and their dates of birth for purposes of assisting them in verifying if they are biometrically registered. Such project could even start our youth’s active participation in our electoral processes.
Imagine if all high school students all over the country would undertake this project, or all heads of government agencies and employers of private companies would verify the voting status of their employees through the Precinct Finder, then we can solve that Comelec problem of registering 4.3 million voters with no biometrics data. Thus, we answer that clarion call of Chair Bautista to help the Comelec as “volunteer voter educators.”
—ROMULO B. MACALINTAL,
election lawyer,
Las Piñas City