Comelec sets voter registration period from July 1-11, 2025
Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia (INQUIRER.net / NOY MORCOSO)
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday announced that it will open a voter registration period from July 1 to 11, 2025, ahead of the 2025 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections on December 1.
Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia on Thursday said the poll body is expecting around one million new voters who can already take part in the 2025 barangay and SK elections.
“From July 1 to July 11, we will have nationwide voter registration. It means that we will have an entire month of June to inform the whole country that we will have a registration, even just for 10 days,” Garcia said in Filipino in a forum organized by the Manila City Hall Reporters’ Association.
READ: BSKE will be manual; Filipinos ‘want to write down their votes’ – Garcia
Garcia said that the Comelec will conduct another voter registration in 2026 that may last until early 2027.
“Those who will not avail or register, revive or transfer their registration on July 1-11 should not worry. After the BSKE, we will have another registration.”
He also noted that there will be an estimated 71 million voters for the 2028 elections, a three million increase from the current 68 million registered voters.
Meanwhile, Garcia said that the Bangsamoro region may not be included in the voter registration in July as it may complicate the first Bangsamoro Parliamentary elections in October.
“The registrants may think that they can catch up with the registration for the Bangsamoro [elections] set on October 13.”
READ: Comelec to drop barangay certificate requirement for voter registration
Garcia on Thursday also announced that the Comelec will no longer accept barangay certifications as proof of residency for voter registration.
Garcia explained that the barangay certificate has been weaponized by many barangay officials to execute transfer of voters from one location to another.
Voting registration initiatives
Garcia also shared that the Comelec will reimplement the ‘Register Anywhere Program’ for the 2025 barangay and SK elections.
During the registration for the 2025 midterm elections, the Comelec tapped 170 malls and other institutions nationwide to conduct the program that aims to make voting registration easier and more accessible.
It will also revive its early voting period for senior citizens, pregnant women, and persons with disabilities for the 2025 barangay and SK elections.
Garcia shared that around 4.8 vmillion oters from the vulnerable sectors benefited from the early voting hours that ran from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.
Likewise, it will continue its mall voting initiative. A total of 42 malls nationwide served as polling places in the 2025 midterm elections.
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