CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Filipinos must not afraid to register and vote even during the present health crisis brought by the coronavirus pandemic, a former Commission on Elections (Comelec) executive said.
With the health safety protocols in place in public places, Gregorio Larrazabal, former Comelec commissioner, said people should no longer have a reason not to go to their local election offices to register and polling centers to cast their votes.
“When you encourage people to register and vote, it’s empowering them, it’s making them realize that they have a voice in a democracy,” Larrazabal said.
“To register as a voter and vote on election day is emphasizing or you’re telling the world that ‘I have a stake in our democracy, I have a say in where the country is going in the future,’” he told a group of reporters and bloggers during his brief visit here on Wednesday (Jan. 13).
Even before he became a Comelec commissioner, Larrazabal said he has been an advocate on voter education and would at times spend moments with random people to talk to them about the importance of exercising their right to suffrage.
The threat of the coronavirus infection, he said, should not discourage people from going to their local election office to register or the polling centers to cast their votes as health protocols are still in place.
Larrazabal said it was quite alarming that last year, Comelec has recorded only 863,309 registrants during the voter registration beginning Sept. 1, 2020.
The election body has earlier said at least four million new voters are eligible to vote in the 2022 elections.
What advocates like himself must do, he said, is to keep reminding people to visit their Comelec office and register.
“It’s like a broken record. You just keep on harping people and people will remember. Hopefully, a number of those who remember will take action by registering as a voter,” Larrazabal said.
While the pandemic might be a challenge, he said people must make time to register or to vote.
“If you have the time to go to the bank or the grocery, if you can go out, you can register or vote,” he said.
