COMELEC taps radio stations' help in urging listeners to undergo biometrics capturing
Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Chairman Sixto S. Brillantes Jr. has sought the help of Metro Manila based radio stations in informing the public of the need to validate their registration records by submitting to biometrics capturing so they may be able to vote in the 2016 elections.
In a letter sent to radio station managers, COMELEC Chairman Sixto S. Brillantes Jr. explained that the poll body is determined to reach-out to about 9.6 million registered voters who, "while they have been able to vote in the past, will no longer be able to participate in the 2016 elections if they do not have their biometrics taken by the end of the current registration period."
Under Republic Act No. 10367, registered voters with no biometrics (digital photograph, digitally captured signature and fingerprints) will be deactivated, and thus, be disenfranchised.
"I am writing to you as Chairman of the Commission on Elections. I would like to personally invite you to be our cause partner in informing you many listeners of the need to come to the COMELEC offices in their cities or municipalities, in order to have their biometrics taken," Brillantes said.
The COMELEC Chairman specifically requested radio stations to share this information with the listening public at the end of every station-produced and block timer program that the station airs. The COMELEC has prepared a brief 30-second spiel, in Filipino, that can be used by the program host or anchor for the purpose.
"Disenfranchisement is no small matter, and we believe that it is only when we all work together to inform the public that we will be able to motivate them into immediate action," Brillantes stressed. ###