The Catholic Church’s poll watchdog is optimistic that it will meet its three million target of registrants before the October 31 deadline.

Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) chairperson Henrietta De Villa said they are optimistic of meeting their three million target of registrants especially since they have already succeeded in registering 2.8 million people nationwide.

The PPCRV, along with the Commission on Elections (Comelec), were at the University of the Philippines (UP) campus in Diliman, Quezon City Tuesday to ask students residing in the fourth district of Quezon City to register.

PPCRV and Comelec kicked off its voters’ education and awareness drive in December 2008 at the University of Santo Tomas along España, Manila and later held a campus tour at the Ateneo de Manila and San Beda College.

De Villa, the country’s former Ambassador to the Vatican, said part of their voters’ education campaign is the search for student-leaders who are willing to offer help them in their campaign as well as encourage their peers to register and vote in 2010.

At UP, she said, they were able to recruit at least five student volunteers who assisted them in their election information dissemination campaign. “We had to bring our advocacy to the market place or where the students can be found,” said De Villa.

The PPCRV head expressed satisfaction that they were successful in registering 200 people on that day, saying registering 200 people in one day is an accomplishment because even the Comelec head office encounters difficulty in getting this number of people to apply because most the applicants have tight schedules.