The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in this city started its off-site voters’ registration at a mall on Thursday which will run until Jan. 31 to accommodate more number of registrants.

In an interview, Comelec Dagupan election supervisor Michael Frank Sarmiento also said they will no longer accommodate applications for registration in their office.

“The purpose is to accommodate more people especially the last-minute registrants as the area is more spacious. We have received an invitation from City Mall-Mayombo management so we grabbed that opportunity,” he said.

Sarmiento said as of Jan. 25, applications received by their office were already at 7,199; 80 percent of these or 5,759 are regular and Sangguniang Kabataan voters, surpassing their target of 5,000.

“Hindi na rin natin inaasahan na magdadagsaan sila until Jan. 31 kasi successful yong ginawa nating satellite registrations sa mga public secondary schools kung saan andon yong mga target nating mga kabataan (Although we are not expecting a large number of registrants until Jan. 31 due to the successful satellite registrations in public secondary schools where our target registrants are the young people),” he explained.

Aside from barangays and other off-site venues, Comelec Dagupan conducted registrations at the Dagupan City National High School, Judge Jose de Venecia, Sr. Technical-Vocational Secondary School, Bonuan Boquig National High School, Federico N. Ceralde Integrated School, Pugaro Integrated School, East Central Integrated School, Carael National High School, St. John’s Cathedral School and at Edna’s School.

“We are very thankful for the support of the schools, where our target eligible voters were there,” Sarmiento said.

Meanwhile, the number of registered voters in the city as of August 2022 is 138,000.

The applications being processed by Comelec offices all over the country are for registration, transfer from outside the city, transfer from within the city, transfer of registration records from post to local, change/corrections of entries in the registration records, reactivation of registration records, the inclusion of registration records, and reinstatement of the name in the list of voters. (PNA)