QUEZON CITY – Pressed with the uncertainty of the extension of voters registration, the Institute for Policy, Strategy, & Developmental Studies, Inc. (IPSDI) now focuses their efforts on attracting more youth voters in a last minute effort to beat the September 30 deadline.

“We need to do more in reaching out to the youth, especially when there’s so much at stake for 2022 and so little time to get people registered.” Says IPSDI President Elmer Cruz. “Hindi tayo pwede ma-kampante, wala tayo kasiguruhan sa extension.”

(We can’t be too confident, we don’t have any guarantees with the extension [of voters’ registration])

Last month, IPSDI together with the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and Tahanang Walang Hagdanan (TWHI) launched a national campaign that seeks to ramp up voters registration for PWDs, Senior Citizens, and Filipino Youths.

Aimed at providing transportation assistance, mentorship and work opportunities as incentives, the non-partisan campaign has since garnered hundreds of registrants nationally, most of which belonging to indigent communities and the youth.

The senate has since approved a bill extending voters registration until October 31^st but it remains to be seen if President Duterte will sign the bill into law.

“With the deadline fast approaching, extension or no extension, we’ll continue to ramp up our efforts to get more people closer to the ballot” says Cruz “The future generation deserves no less.”