MANILA - The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday extended registration of voters for the May 10, 2010 elections to the second week of January 2010, according to early reports reaching abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak.

The decision is immediately executory, the Supreme Court sources said.

Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino asked the Supreme Court last October 30 to move the deadline for voters' registration to January 9 as provided by law.

"We are questioning the legality of shortened voters' registration. According to Section 8 of the Voter Registration Act of 1996, registration should be daily and 120 days before election," Palatino had said. (Access petition here: http://tinyurl.com/yhyqwov )

"The deadline should be January 9. Congress, not Comelec, has the power to amend a law," he said.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) had set the deadline for voters' registration to October 31 due to the demands of poll automation.

Only 3 million first-time voters

According to Palatino, National Statistics Office data shows there should be 11 million first-time voters, but only 3 million had registered.

Other petitioners were Jade Charmane Rose Valenzuela, Jacqueline Alexis Merced, Ana Katrina Tejero, Kenneth Carlisle Earl Eugenio, and Victor Louis Crisostomo, all first-time voters who tried but failed to register due various reasons.

They were joined by Alvin Peters, president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP); Vijae Alquisola, president of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP); Ken Leonard Ramos, chairperson of Anakbayan; and, Ma. Cristina Angela Guevarra, chairperson of the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP).

At the House of Representatives, Palatino had filed three resolutions--House Resolutions 1162, 1443, and 1336--seeking the extension of voters’ registration. -- with a report from Carmela Fonbuena, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak