Comelec: No extension for 10-day BSKE voter registration

Commission on Elections Chairman George Erwin Garcia answers questions during a press conference at Manila Hotel’s Tent City in this file photo taken on May 16, 2025.  INQUIRER.net / NOY MORCOSO

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will not extend the 10-day voters’ registration period for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).

But according to Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia, if the elections are postponed, the poll body will resume its voters’ registration later this year.

“Our registration will have no extension. This is only for 10 days. But if the Barangay and SK Elections will be reset, instead of December 1, and moved to November 2026, we will resume the registration,” Garcia said in Filipino on the sidelines of the Special Register Anywhere Program (SRAP) at the main office of the Department of the Interior and Local Government in Quezon City.

READ: Comelec to continue BSKE preparations despite term extension bill

“We will resume the registration in the 3rd week of October until July next year,” Garcia added in Filipino.

The Comelec has set the voters’ registration period across the country from August 1 to 10, 2025. Meanwhile, the Special Register Anywhere Program launched in several areas in Metro Manila will run from August 1 to 7, 2025.

Garcia also shared that the bill seeking to postpone the BSKE may lapse into law on August 14, days after he disclosed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is expected to sign the bill on August 12. Should this be enacted into law, the elections will be moved from December 1, 2025, to the first Monday of November 2026.

Despite the looming postponement, Garcia touted the large turnout of voter registrations, saying the poll body is close to reaching its goal of one million new voter registrants.

He also said that the Comelec will continue its preparations for the elections, as he believes that anyone can question the postponement before the Supreme Court if it becomes law.

READ: How to register as a voter for the 2025 BSKE

As the voters’ registration period is coming to an end, the Comelec is accepting the following applications:

• Registration
• Change of name and status
• Correction of entries
• Reactivation of registration records
• Inclusion of registration records and reinstatement of name in the list of voters
• Updating of records of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs), senior citizens, and members of indigenous peoples (IPs) and indigenous cultural communities (ICCs)
• Transfer from overseas to local only

Meanwhile, transfer of local registration records is not allowed during this registration period.

The Comelec also said that registrants can bring at least one of the following government-issued IDs:

• National ID
• Postal ID
• PWD ID
• Student ID card or library card (with the signature of school authority)
• Senior Citizen ID
• Driver’s license or student permit
• National Bureau of Investigation clearance
• Philippine passport
• Social Security System / Government Service Insurance System / Unified Multi-Purpose ID
• Integrated Bar of the Philippines ID
• Professional Regulation Commission license
• Certificate of Confirmation from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples for members of ICCs and IPs
• Other government-issued valid IDs

Meanwhile, barangay certification or ID, community tax certificates (cedula), Philippine National Police clearance, and company IDs will not be accepted. /jpv