Party-list groups asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday to authorize its field offices in 118 cities and 1,510 municipalities to render overtime services on weekdays to attend to the increasing number of new voters desiring to register for the May 10, 2010 polls as the November 30, 2009 deadline nears for filing of petitions for inclusion in the local list of voters.

The groups, led by the Coalition of the Associations of Senior Citizens in the Philippines headed by party-list Rep. Godofredo V. Arquiza, Ang Laban ng Indiginong Filipino(ALIF) led by Muslim Rep. Acmad M. Tomawis, and 1-AK (1-Aangat Ka Pilipino) represented by its president and chairman Eduardo C. “Boy” Morales, said overtime works on weekends for Comelec field offices throughout the country is imperative to enable young workers and students to register after 5 p.m.

They said while Comelec field offices are open on Saturdays and legal holidays for purposes of accepting the applications of new voters, the bulk of young workers, particularly in urban centers have no time to register because they still work on Saturdays during office hours while non-working legal holidays are few and far between.

In the case of students, many of them, particularly those in schools that follow the trimestral system, have classes on Saturdays, the party-list groups said. They said Comelec personnel in field offices must be authorized to render overtime services on weekdays like those in the main office for the cleansing of voters list.