QuestionsQuestions (Republic Act No. 8189)
The law’s policy is to systematize voter registration to establish a clean, complete, permanent, and updated list of voters.
A “Registration Record” is a sworn application duly approved by the Election Registration Board. The “Book of Voters” is the precinct-level compilation of all approved registration records.
A voter’s precinct assignment in the permanent list shall not be changed or transferred to another precinct without the voter’s express written consent. Withholding consent unreasonably constitutes an election offense.
Five days before the 1997 general registration, individual precinct maps are posted at the door of each polling place. Thereafter, the Election Officer displays precinct maps throughout the year in the Election Officer’s office and the bulletin board of the city or municipal hall.
No territory comprising an election precinct shall be altered or a new precinct established at the start of the election period; splitting/merging original precincts is not allowed without redrawing precinct maps 120 days before election day.
Each precinct should have no more than 200 voters and should comprise contiguous and compact territories. A precinct may be less than 200 in specified situations (e.g., automatic spin-off when the 200 limit is reached; or an island/group of islands).
For the May 1998 elections and subsequent elections/plebiscites/referenda/initiatives/recalls, the Commission undertakes general registration before the Board of Election Inspectors on June 14, 15, 21, and 22, 1997, subject to discretion to include June 28 and 29, 1997.
Personal filing of applications is conducted daily during regular office hours in the Election Officer’s office. No registration is conducted during 120 days before a regular election and 90 days before a special election.
Citizens not disqualified by law who are at least 18 years old, have resided in the Philippines for at least one year, and have resided in the place where they propose to vote for at least six months immediately preceding the election.
Temporary residence for those reasons does not constitute loss of original residence.
The voter personally accomplishes the application form in three copies before the Election Officer, providing the required personal data, including three specimen signatures, rolled left and right thumbprints, and four identification-size copies of the latest photograph.
Among others: persons sentenced by final judgment to imprisonment of at least 1 year without removal of disability; persons convicted by final judgment for crimes involving disloyalty to the government (unless rights restored); and insane/incompetent persons declared as such unless later declared no longer insane/incompetent.
Illiterate persons may register with assistance; the Election Officer places them under oath and records answers in the Board’s presence, with the form read aloud and attested by the majority of the Board. For physically disabled persons, the application may be prepared by a relative within the fourth civil degree or by the Election Officer/accredited citizens’ arm using data supplied by the applicant.
It consists of the Election Officer as chairman, the most senior public school official, and the local civil registrar (or substitute treasurer/other civil service official). No Board member shall be related to another or to any incumbent elective official within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity; if related after elections, the member is automatically disqualified.
The Election Officer sets applications for hearing with posting notice and furnishes copies to applicants and accredited groups at least one week prior. Challenges must be in writing under oath and filed with proof of notice. Hearing/processing is quarterly on the third Monday of April, July, October, and January (with exceptions in election years/prohibitive periods). Physical presence of the applicant is mandatory when timely objections exist.
Municipal/Metropolitan Trial Courts have original and exclusive jurisdiction over inclusion/exclusion cases; their decisions may be appealed to the Regional Trial Court within 5 days, with no motion for reconsideration, and the RTC decides within 10 days. Petitions for inclusion may be filed any time except 105 days before regular elections or 75 days before special elections; petitions for exclusion any time except 100 days before regular elections or 65 days before special elections.
VIN is assigned by COMELEC and consists of three parts: (1) current address code (province/city-municipality); (2) current precinct assignment code (precinct number and whether mother/daughter precinct); and (3) permanent birth and name code unique to the voter (month letter, birthdate, birth year, and name code).