To Be, To Be. Tutubi.

My eldest son is turning 18 on March next year and he can already vote in the coming May Presidential election. Last Saturday, a roving van in our Barangay informed us that there will be a satellite registration in Robinsons Magnolia. So I asked my son to inquire whether there is an ongoing registration in our area. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they can bring us to our district's local Comelec office.  So we went there with 6 other registrants and it was fast because there was nobody else there!

So the two requirements for first-time voters are:

1. A valid ID that has your address (School ID, SSS, Passport, Drivers License, Senior Citizen ID etc). A barangay ID or cedula is not a valid ID.

2. A photocopy of your birth certificate.

Step 2 of the process is filling-up 3 copies of the form. Then a Comelec personnel will check the form, take your picture and have your fingerprints taken. Then you will be given a claim stub. Then you are done! It took us less than an hour for the six of us to be  processed.  I changed my status from single to married and I only had to show a copy of my marriage contract and a government ID. The other registrants on our batch are either new registrants like my son, change of status like myself, change of residence (proof of residence is required, i,e, a government-issued ID with new address) and validation (wasn't able to vote for 2 consecutive elections). 

If you are not sure whether you need to have your biometrics taken, you can check with your Barangay office because they have a list (or at least our Barangay did).