The agreement was reached during a hearing of the House committee on suffrage presided by panel chairman Marinduque Rep. Edmundo Reyes, and attended by members of the chamber and the poll body led by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Comelec Chairman Alfredo Benipayo.
In the other chamber, se-nators reached a consensus on the need for the special registration of voters aged 18 to 21, after Benipayo assured the Senate committee on suffrage and electoral reforms that the special exercise in April was "doable."
Benipayo, who earlier rejected the holding of a special registration because of a law that imposes a 120-day ban before elections, said the process is feasible provided the poll body receives legislative authority.
To expedite the enactment of a law on the registration of some four million new voters, congressmen decided to draft a new bill containing specific dates for the listing, procedures to be followed, safeguards against irregularities and the amount of funds to be spent.
The bill was filed yesterday afternoon before the start of the three-day special session of Congress. Authored principally by Belmonte, Reyes and several other congressmen, the bill replaces two other measures filed previously.
Under the new measure, a Filipino qualified to vote but has not registered before may go to the board of election inspectors in his barangay on April 10 or 11 for proper listing.
The board is to be composed of public school teachers, who will be paid per registration day. The Comelec has estimated that some P126 million would be spent for the honoraria of teachers.
A voter seeking to register would have to bring proof that he has reached the voting age of 18 and that he is a resident of the barangay where he intends to vote.
His registration application can be challenged by any barangay resident or concerned citizen, and the board of election inspectors has the authority to decide on complaints.
Political parties will not be allowed to be represented in the board but can designate watchers during the exercise.
A qualified voter whose application is denied by the board can go to court from April 17 to 27 to appeal the decision.
During this period, concerned citizens can also petition the courts to exclude registered voters who may not have the proper qualifications.
After April 27, the Comelec will print the final list of voters then ship this to officials nationwide in preparation for election day on May 14.
To speed up the printing of forms, Comelec officials asked the House that the poll body be allowed to enter into contracts on a negotiated basis.
However, the House committee on suffrage rejected the request and instead prescribed a simplified bidding process for the selection of printers and awarding of contracts.
Benipayo admitted that the timetable was tight but said the poll body will do its job according to the mandate Congress gives them.
Dilangalen wanted the bill referred to the committee on suffrage instead of the entire House transforming itself into a committee, which is normally done in the case of urgent measures.
Under a committee-of-the-whole setup, all House members can participate in the discussions and propose amendments as if in a plenary session.
House leaders were trying to talk Dilangalen last night into withdrawing his objection to the proposed setup.
However, Belmonte said he had no problem sending the bill to the suffrage committee, which has already done some spadework on certain items.
The Speaker said he was confident that within the three-day special session, Congress would approve the bill that allows young voters to register.
In the Senate, a quorum was reached on its first day of special sessions as 14 of the 20 incumbent senators were present.
It was decided that three separate bills on the special registration be referred to the committee on suffrage headed by Sen. Vicente Sotto III.
"We are trying to address the likelihood that flying voters may come in during the registration by narrowing the specifics in the proposed law to allow only first-time registrants to register," Alvarez said.
The lawmaker is the author of the Voters’ Registration Act of 1996 which imposes the 120-day ban for registration before elections. He also filed House Bill 12928, one of the bills now being consolidated by Congress, which provides the holding of special registration for the May 14 polls by amending Voters’ Registration Act without violating the ban.
"Among the proposals which came out in the hearing was the printing of ‘sample registration forms’ to be distributed to new registrants which they will simply copy come registration day to help speed up the process," he said.
Earlier, youth leaders of party-list group Sanlakas said it would support the special registration only if safeguards are instituted to prevent manipulation by traditional politicians.
"We stand for the youth’s right to vote. But the youth will not be pawns to dark and sinister designs by trapos to pad the voters’ list. Hence, our stand is ‘yes’ to special registration as long as there are enough safeguards," said Sanlakas Youth spokesperson Michelle Licudine.
Meanwhile, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, chairman of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, said she may file a case in the Supreme Court to question the constitutionality of the special registration bill.
Santiago, who is running for re-election under the opposition’s Puwersa ng Masa coalition, earlier said she would boycott the three-day special session on the bill.
She protested the alleged unconstitutionality of the bill on three grounds: promotion of flying voters, absence of certification on available funding and the need for a bill to originate from the House of Representatives.
"The process of registration is very long and complicated because the law emphasizes the duty of the board of election inspectors and of the courts to investigate the identity of each voter. There is simply no time left to do this," she said.
Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, another Puwersa bet, said he sympathized with the youth, saying they should be given the right to be registered and vote in May.
He noted, however, that it was "mathematically impossible" for the population of young Filipinos who have turned 18 to swell to some four million.
"I am amazed at how some people arrived at the figure. Something is wrong," the senator from Cagayan said.
Enrile warned against the padding of the voters’ list and called on the people to guard against any evil scheme to make a mockery of the elections.
"Some people are trying to pull our legs. But we will not allow double registrations," he said. – With Efren Danao, Sandy Araneta, Marichu Villanueva, Mayen Jaymalin