Monday, Dec. 28, and Tuesday, Dec. 29, are the last two days for new voters and those still unregistered to list up for the May 10, 2010 elections, the Commission on Elections said Sunday.

The Comelec, led by Chairman Jose A. R. Melo, has directed its election officers in 120 cities and 1,514 municipalities nationwide to be ready for the heavy influx of registrants Monday and Tuesday and make sure their data-capturing machines for the biometrics of applicants are in top working condition.

The Supreme Court, in a Dec. 15 unanimous decision penned by Justice Conchita Carpio Morales, said the clear text of the Voter’s Registration Act of 1996 decrees that voters be allowed to register daily during office hours, except during the 120-day period before a regular election which falls on Jan. 9, 2010.

The Comelec, however, approved en banc Resolution No. 8719 designating Dec. 29, 2009 as the last day for the filing of applications for registration for next year’s major political exercise.

The resolution, signed by Melo and Commissioners Rene V. Sarmiento, Nicodemo T. Ferrer, Lucenito N. Tagle, Armando C. Velasco, Elias R. Yusoph and Gregorio Y. Larrazabal, said the period from Dec. 30 to Jan. 9, 2010 is reserved for other activities related to voters’ registration.

The other activities include the posting of the list of applications on Jan. 4, filing of opposition to the applications for registration on Jan. 6, and the hearing for the approval or disapproval of the applications by the Election Registration Board (ERB) on Jan. 9.

Comelec en banc Resolution 8719 also set for Jan. 15, 2010 the deadline for the filing of petitions for inclusion and exclusion of voters in the list of registered voters.

The Comelec has required its information technology department (ITD) to develop anappropriate program to segregate the records of registered voters as of the Nov. 16, 2009 ERB hearing from those whose applications will be approved on Jan. 9, and provide all eletion officerss with instructions for the generation of a separate supplemental list of voters posted in Computerized Voters List (PCVL) format.

The Supreme Court’s Dec. 15 ruling nullified the Oct. 31, 2009 deadline for voters’ registration earlier set by the Comelec and extended the registration period to Jan. 9, 2010.