The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Dumaguete City, the provincial capital of Negros Oriental, has announced on Monday that its central office has put on hold the printing of voters’ identification cards because of the National ID System.
Atty. Gildu Agoncillo, election officer of Dumaguete City, explained on Wednesday that because of this, voters who have registered after 2013 might no longer receive their voter’s ID card that was previously printed and released by the Comelec.
Instead of the ID card, a voter’s certification is being issued by the Comelec, which is also valid for transactions, the Comelec officer said.
Last Dec. 20, 2017, the Comelec main office announced that the generation of voters’ ID cards is put on hold as a result of the approval by the House of Representatives of the bill proposing a National ID System which provides for just one ID card for all government transactions, he said.
The poll body had earlier printed and released voters’ ID cards to those who had registered in 2013 and prior, said Atty. Agoncillo.
In fact, there are still about 9,000 voter’s ID cards at his office that remain unclaimed up to now, he disclosed.
Agoncillo called on the public to come to his office and claim their voter’s ID cards as these are still valid and can be used for certain transactions that require a government identification.
The Comelec had also earlier considered shifting to plastic ID cards similar to that of a driver’s license, however, this has not panned out, Agoncillo said.
Meanwhile, the Comelec has reported a total of 83,140 registered voters for the upcoming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in May, this year.
According to Atty. Agoncillo, his office is now gearing up for the posting of the voters’ list for the said electoral exercise, which was moved from October last year to the second Monday of May 2018. (Judy Flores Partlow/PNA)
