Press Release
April 20, 2009

KIKO PANGILINAN: MILLIONS HAVE YET TO REGISTER, WARNS MASSIVE FIRST-TIME VOTER DISENFRANCHISEMENT

Independent Senator Francis 'Kiko' Pangilinan today challenged the Comelec to go "all-out in providing information dissemination" to get Filipinos to register for the coming 2010 elections.

A senate hearing was conducted regarding Pangilinan's privilege speech last April 15, warning Comelec of massive first-time voters' disenfranchisement due to the Commission's lack of information campaign and of systematic processes.

"Voter registration information drive is a must to avoid massive disenfranchisement. Nanggaling mismo sa Commission on Election na sampung pursiyento pa lamang na qualified first-time voters ang nakakapagpa-rehistro sa kasalukuyan. The Comelec has six more months to maximize their efforts."

Pangilinan, in his privilege speech last week, said that there are a lot of very alarming reports wherein first-time voters, especially from the youth, are left confused on the processes of getting themselves registered.

"Merong ibang presinto na hinihingan ang mga tao ng NBI clearance, Birth certificate at iba pang mga dokumento na hindi naman kinakailangan. Because of wrong or incomplete information, a lot of our first-time voters are discouraged from lining up once again to register."

After the Senate hearing, the Comelec has resolved to come up with a media plan within two weeks, coordinating with Pangilinan's office and concerned advocate groups, including Youth Vote Philippines, First-Time Voters' Network, National Union of Students of the Philippines, Taskforce 2010, among others.

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