A COMMISSION on Elections employee will attempt to swim the waters of Tañon Strait in a bid to promote voter registration, which will end on April 29.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the election officer, Ingemar Macarine of Tubigon, Bohol, will swim nonstop and unassisted across the 22-kilometer distance from Dumaguete City to Siquijor on Wednesday, April 19.
A triathlete and environmental lawyer, Macarine will endure a 22-kilometer open water swim across Tañon Strait, between Negros Oriental and the “enchanted island” of Siquijor to encourage qualified applicants to participate in the ongoing voter registration ahead of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections on Oct. 23, 2017.
The Comelec is urging the public to take the time to register.
Jimenez had previously said that despite possible postponement of this year’s polls, if voters register now they can still vote in succeeding elections.
He said that Comelec have so far received a total of 2,174,601 applications for registration from Nov. 7, 2016 to March 25, 2017 in the ongoing registration of voters nationwide.
The Comelec expects at least 5 million new voters.
Applications received from regular registrants nationwide were 1,558,892, while those from SK registrants numbered 615,709.
Region III obtained the highest number of SK applications at 80,696 out of the total of 324,408, which include those from the 18 years old and above age bracket.