WHEREAS, the COMELEC Committee on Overseas Absentee Voting (COAV) preparatory to the resumption of the continuing registration/certification for overseas absentee on December 1, 2008, has required all Philippine Posts abroad through the Department of Foreign Affairs – Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat (DFA – OAVS) to submit an inventory of the Data Capturing Machines (DCMs) and peripherals in their possession in order for the COAV to be apprised of the status of the DCMs and peripherals in the Posts;

WHEREAS, the Inventory Reports did not give a clear indication of the working condition of the DCMs and the peripherals;

WHEREAS, in order to validate the Inventory Reports and to establish the working condition of the DCMs and peripherals, the COAV sent a simple DCM Troubleshooting Checklist for the Posts to accomplish;

WHEREAS, since most of the Posts’ personnel assigned to handle the registration are new appointees and have not yet acquired the necessary technical competence on the workings of the DCMs and the peripherals, they encountered some difficulty, which resulted in the slow transmittal of their reports;

WHEREAS, based on the accomplished DCM Trouble Shooting Checklist from the Posts, the COAV found out that there is a need to reallocate and redistribute DCMs from Post to Post and from Manila to various Posts;

WHEREAS, since the transmittal of reports was delayed and coupled with budgetary constraint the COAV is left with little time to plan the reallocation and redistribution of existing DCMs and peripherals as well as sourcing of new ones;

WHEREAS, in a very recent meeting held between representatives of the COMELEC COAV and DFA – OAVS, both expressed the same sentiment and observation that there is not enough time and resources to send the needed DCMs and peripherals to Posts concerned;

WHEREAS, Section 4 of Resolution No. 8458 entitled “General Instructions for the Resumption of Continuing Registration/Certification of Qualified Overseas Absentee Voters for Purposes of the May 10, 2010 National Elections and Subsequent National Elections Thereafter”, promulgated on May 20, 2008, provides:

“Sec. 4. Period to File Applications. – All applications shall be filed from December 1, 2008 to August 31, 2009, at five (5) days per week for the duration of the registration period.”

WHEREAS, since experiences in previous registrations showed that  turn - out of registrants during the months of December and January is low, as said months are vacation time for most overseas Filipinos, a prudent move is to reset the period of registration/certification of overseas absentee voters from December 1, 2008 to February 1, 2009 ending on August 31, 2009 to enable the COMELEC COAV and DFA-OAVS to set in place the reallocation of DCMs and peripherals;

WHEREAS, Commissioner Nicodemo T. Ferrer, Chairman of the COAV, in his memorandum dated November 20, 2008, recommends the resetting of the start of the registration/certification of overseas absentee voters for reasons clearly enunciated herewith.

NOW, THEREFORE, the Commission acting on the memorandum of Commissioner Nicodemo T. Ferrer, RESOLVED as it hereby RESOLVES, to reset the start of the continuing registration/certification for overseas absentee voters from December 1, 2008 to February 1, 2009 while the end thereof is still August 31, 2009.

Let a copy of this resolution be furnished the DFA-OAVS.

SO ORDERED.

Updated: 09.01.2009 LTO