Comelec resets voters’ registration period to October 2025

People registering as voters form long lines at the Comelec satellite office at a mall in Manila. (File photo from RICHARD A. REYES)

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has reset the voters’ registration period, according to its chairperson George Erwin Garcia.

The new schedule will be from October this year to July next year.

The original schedule was supposed to be from July 1 to 11 – a period of ten days, considering the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) on December 1 this year.

Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia made the announcement on Tuesday.

“Last week of [October] [to] July 10, 2026,” Garcia told INQUIRER.net in a Viber message when asked if the original schedule of the voters’ registration will push through this year.

Garcia previously said the poll body is expecting one million new registrants.

“Because if the BSKE will be reset, we need a longer period of registration,” he explained.

READ: Comelec sets voter registration period from July 1-11, 2025

He also said that the decision to reset the voters’ registration period is “final” and it does not depend on whether or not the BSKE will be postponed.

“Although it depends on the initial disposition of SC (Supreme Court) if someone questions the law postponing the election before the SC,” he noted.

The Comelec chief earlier said that he would call for an all-official emergency meeting following the Congress’ ratification of the bicameral conference committee report that tackles election-related matters.

READ: Comelec to tackle proposed term extension for barangay, SK officials

The Senate and the House of Representatives ratified the bicameral conference committee report last Wednesday on a measure that sets four-year terms from the current three-year terms of elected barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials.

The bill now awaits President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s signature.

The legislative piece was a consolidation of the Senate Bill No. 2816 and House Bill No. 11287, amending Republic Act No. 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991, particularly on the terms of village and SK officials, and the schedule of the next BSKE.

Should this measure be signed into law, the BSKE will be moved from December 1, 2025 to the first Monday of November 2026. /apl