WHEREAS, Section 9 of Resolution No. 7797 directs the Committee on Local Absentee Voting to transmit the list or qualified local absentee voters, the exact number of local absentee ballots, inner and outer envelopes, and paper seals corresponding to the number of approved applications and thumbprint takers to the head of office/supervisor/commander concerned not later than April 21, 2007;

WHEREAS, Section 3, of Resolution No. 7797 sets April 28 to April 30, 2007 as voting dates for local absentee voters, while Section 11 thereof requires the head of office /supervisor/ commander concerned to distribute the official ballots, inner and outer envelopes and paper seals to the local absentee voters within the same voting period;

WHEREAS,after the last day to file applications for local absentee voting, the number of applicants reached to almost fifty five thousand (55,000), excluding those which the Committee on Local Absentee Voting has to deny for having been filed out of time pursuant to COMELEC Resolution No. 7848, as compared to the 2004 elections with only 7,729 local absentee voters;

WHEREAS, the process of evaluating the request for application forms for local absentee voting vis-à-vis the lists of registered voters who will avail of local absentee voting and the accomplished application forms, the verification of voters from the national data base of the Information and Technology Department, the preparation of the lists of qualified absentee voters perunit, the verification, packing and shipping of the official ballots and other election paraphernalia, and other activities incidental thereto, would necessarily take considerable time to complete and comply, considering the volume of local absentee voting applicants for purposes of the forthcoming May 14, 2007 elections;

WHEREAS,there are local absentee voters assigned to units in far flung areas not readily accessible thus creating a situation that would hamper the immediate distribution of ballots and other election paraphernalia to them;

WHEREAS, it is imperative to amend Sections 3, 9 and 11 of Resolution No. 7797 to attain the purpose of holding local absentee voting effectively and efficiently to the end that all qualified local absentee voters will be able to cast their votes on time;

NOW, THEREFORE, the Commission RESOLVED, as it hereby RESOLVES, to AMEND Section 3, 9 and 11 of Resolution No. 7797 with respect to the deadline of activities therein prescribed, as follows:

This resolution shall take effect immediately after its publication in two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Let  the  Election  and  Information  Department  and  the  Committee  on  Local Absentee Voting implement this resolution.

SO ORDERED.