A TOTAL of 36,536 voters registered on the first day of the nationwide registration for the 2026 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE), initial data provided by the Commission on elections (Comelec) on Tuesday indicate
Initial figures reported by Comelec show that Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) had the highest number of registered voters nationwide so far at 8,290, followed by the National Capital Region at 4,637.
Central Luzon, Central Visayas and Western Mindanao drew 4,100, 3,145 and 1,999 registered voters, respectively.
The overall total accounts for about 2.6 percent of the 1.4 million target of registrants expected by the poll body.
The opening of registration came on Monday with Comelec’s ‘Special Register Anywhere Program [SRAP],’ the poll body’s initiative for Filipinos in Metro Manila who are not able to return to their provinces.
New voters were able to complete their registration through the government’s SRAP sites stationed at PITX ANIX in Parañaque City, the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila and Luneta Park.
Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia said the poll body aims to conduct the program in other highly urbanized cities in the country, which will soon allow Filipinos to register at schools, government offices, hospitals, call centers, airports and other accessible locations.
Garcia said the poll body had already anticipated the possible increase in the number of new registered voters, adding that the House of Representatives had already granted the commission’s budget request.
‘We are very conservative with our target of 1.4 million registrants, but if the number goes beyond that, that’s fine. We can still accommodate the influx and increase in the number of our fellow citizens who will register.’
Garcia added that the proposed number of precincts would be sufficient, noting that not all of them would be filled and that new voters could be accommodated in both newly created and existing precincts.
So long as the promised budget from the House is delivered and later approved into law, Garcia said the commission would be able to handle the additional number of voters.
‘So no one needs to worry. As long as the budget promised to us by the lower house is granted, and once it is approved into law later on, we will be able to handle an even greater increase in the number of voters.’
Last August, the poll body drew 2.7 million registrants during its ten-day nationwide voter registration for the BSKE, exceeding its goal of 1.5 million registered voters.
Voter registration for the BSKE runs from October 20 to May 18, 2026.