Photo: GMA Integrated News
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) will resume voter registration on Monday, Oct. 20 for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), Chairperson George Erwin Garcia announced.
The registration period will run until May 18, 2026, covering applications for new registration, transfer, reactivation, and correction or change of entries.
“This registration will be applicable in the whole country and in all kinds of registration — reactivation, transfer of registration, new registration, and modification of items in the registration,” Garcia said.
Registration will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., including weekends and holidays, at satellite registration sites and local Office of the Election Officer (OEO) branches.
Accepted identification cards includes PhilSys National ID, Postal ID card, Persons With Disabilities (PWD) ID card, Student’s ID card or library card, Senior Citizens’ ID card, Driver’s license/student permit, NBI Clearance, Philippine passport, SSS, GSIS, PRC, IBP, UMID ID card, NCIP certification of confirmation, and other valid government-issued IDs.
Cedulas, barangay-issued IDs or certificates, and police clearances will not be accepted.
Garcia said the poll body will also relaunch its Register Anywhere Program (RAP), which allows voters to register in select off-site locations.
The RAP will run from Oct. 20 to 21, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Mabini Hall in Luneta Park, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila’s University Activity Center, and the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX).
Those registering at RAP sites will receive voter’s certificates for free upon presenting a valid government-issued ID.
Meanwhile, the registration excludes areas under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), where voter registration will be held after the region’s parliamentary elections.
Garcia said the exemption is to prevent confusion among voters who might assume the registration covers participation in the Bangsamoro polls, which are set to take place no later than March 31, 2026.
“Those who can vote in the Bangsamoro parliamentary elections are those who registered for and voted in the May 2025 midterm elections,” he said.
COMELEC targets 1.4 million new registrants during this period. In the previous 10-day registration from Aug. 1 to 10, the poll body recorded 2.73 million applications nationwide, surpassing its goal of 1.5 million.
Last Aug. 13, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed a law extending the terms of current barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials, postponing the BSKE originally set for Dec. 1, 2025.