MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday, October 31, held the last day of registration of voters for the 2013 elections.

Thousands of Filipinos rushed to their respective local Comelec offices to register. At the Comelec local office in Arroceros, Manila, tensions rose as the Comelec announced the closing of voters' registration at 5 pm, with many of them failing to meet the cut-off.

MANILA, Philippines - For those who will beat the deadline for application for voter registration on October 31, don't wait until the very last few office hours.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has promulgated Resolution 9149, which specifies the following guidelines to be observed on the last day of voter registration:

A total vote of 168 for and zero against, the bill granting state subsidy to national political parties and to set limits on voluntary contribution that they may receive from donors was approved by member of the House of Representatives.

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation has started deliberations on the proposed bill that would define and outlaw political dynasties in the country.

While the bill is not expected to be approved in the 15th Congress, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III said the conduct of committee hearings now and the possible release of the recommendations by the committee could provide the next Congress with a starting point for deliberations on the issue if such is revived.

MANILA (UPDATE 1) - The Supreme Court (SC) affirmed with finality the validity of the Commission on Elections' (COMELEC) P1.8 billion purchase of election systems provider Smartmatic-TIM's precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines for next year’s mid-term elections.

Well-placed ABS-CBN News sources bared that with a vote of 8 out of 11 justices present in its Tuesday en banc session, the high court junked the motion for reconsideration (MR) filed by the Automated Election Systems Watch (AES Watch), one of four petitioners that challenged the deal, thereby affirming its June 13 ruling.