Minors lined up for voter sign-up at Camp Abubakar of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Tuesday.
In an ambush interview, Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said 15 to 16-year-old individuals lined up for voter sign-up.
"Mayroon din tayong mga nakita na minor applicants na siguro maling information ang naibigay sa kanila siguro akala for [Sangguniang Kabataan] registration pero yung lahat pong yan hindi naman natuloy ang kanilang application (We have also seen minor applicants who may have been given wrong information, perhaps thinking it was for SK registration, but all of that did not go through with their application)," Garcia said.
"Siguro yung iba kasi kasama ng mga magulang at akala pwede na ring magparehistro, sayang din naman yung pagkakataon. Pero again, inuulit natin, hindi po makakaligtas sa atin yun (Maybe the others are with their parents and thought they could register, it's a waste of time. But again, we repeat, that will not go through)," he added.
Garcia, however, said those registrations weren't done in "bad faith."
"Siguro mali lang yung impormasyon na nakarating lang sa kanila (Maybe the information that was given to them was wrong)," he noted.
Garcia stressed that the poll body is now adopting stricter measures to keep away minors from voting in the elections.
"Yan yung ginagarantiya natin sa ating mga kababayan, na yung dating nangyayari, alam natin na nakakarehistro kahit mga ibon o kung ano man sa lugar na ito, ay hindi na mangyayari sapagkat mas pinaigting natin ang ating registration process (That's what we're guaranteeing to our compatriots, that what used to happen, we know that before even birds or whatever is registered in this area, that will no longer happen because we have intensified our registration process)," he continued.
"At number two, yung local Comelec ay properly trained doon sa pag-determine doon sa age at sa mga dokumento na hinahanap natin para lang ma-verify talaga kung sila ay tamang marehistro (And number two, the local Comelec is properly trained in determining the age and the documents we are looking for just to verify if they are properly registered)," he added.
Comelec on Monday held the first-ever voter registration in Camp Darapanan and Camp Abubakar of the MILF.
The poll body is targeting to register three million new voters for the 2025 national and local elections.
