The Commission on Elections (Comelec) Pangasinan provincial office exceeded its target voter registrants, recording around 124,000 registrants for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).

The Comelec targeted 75,000 registrants, which means that it exceeded by 66 percent, from the start of registration on Oct. 20, 2025 to May 18, 2026.

“Karamihan pa din mga kabataan lalo BSKE saka pinuntahan naming lahat ng high schools at colleges dahil nandoon ang mga first-time voters (Mostly who availed of the voters’ registration) are the youth especially with the BSKE and we also went to all the high schools and colleges where the first-time voters are),” Pangasinan provincial election supervisor lawyer Marino Salas said in an interview on Tuesday.

Off-site registrations were conducted. Salas said the registration covered the transfer, correction of entries, and reactivation.

He said the number of registrants would undergo the validation and approval of the Election Registration Board (ERB) starting June 1 this year.

“After a week, we will have the final list of new voters and it would be posted in all the localities,” he added.

Pangasinan has a total of over 2.1 million registered voters in 2025.

Meanwhile, Salas said the BSKE elections would require more polling precincts as elections would be conducted manually unlike in the previous election.

They are looking at a maximum of 400 voters per polling precinct instead of 1,000, he said.

Salas said using malls as polling precincts is being considered but the proposal would still undergo the approval of the central office.

“It will have limitations like if the mall is owned by a politician, then it is prohibited,” he said. “We have to make sure that it would not be marked with political color.” (PNA)