Comelec tells voters: Submit biometric data

CEBU, Philippines – About a million registered voters in Central Visayas will have to come back to the Commission on Elections for the submission of their biometric information. But they were also assured they will still be allowed to vote even though they don’t have the biometric data.

Comelec-7 director Rey Rene Buac said that other voters who have not submitted their biometric information are required to report back to their office after it became mandatory under the law allocating funds for the automation of the 2010 elections.

Buac said that biometric information includes a digitally captured picture, fingerprint and signature. If one has already submitted it, they will have their voter’s ID from the Comelec.

“The commission will not require that given the time constraint…but they will be allowed to vote considering that we are of limited time and there is no enough equipment. Naa pay daghan bag-ong voters,” Buac said yesterday.

But he acknowledged that it would be very difficult to ensure that all of them would be able to submit the necessary information by Oct. 31, the registration deadline.

“If you can see the lines we have every morning for our new registrants, this will surely double if those who have failed to submit their biometrics will also be present. We need additional manpower but we lack funds for the salary of our workers,” Buac said.

Aside from the lack of manpower, Buac said that they also lack equipment to do so.

“We cannot solve that alone, we are requesting the head office to send us equipment, Comelec allows us to accept donations of computers from local government units but the problem is they only supply us computers but the cameras and other peripherals are not included,” Buac said.

As of the moment, he added that the regional Comelec office needs twenty sets of automated machines for the elections and it is to be distributed in all Comelec branches in the region. Each machine costs P250,000 per set, including the camera and other equipment,” he added.

Though there is no penalty for failing to submit to a biometrics capture, Buac said people should submit to it in order to help the Comelec cleanse its voters’ list. — Jasmin R. Uy/BRP (THE FREEMAN)