Comelec hands off on voter registration fraud

MANILA, Philippines — The Election Registration Board (ERB), not the Commission on Elections, is responsible for handling fraudulent voter registration, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said yesterday.

Garcia issued the statement to answer allegations by an election watchdog that the Comelec has not acted on the issue of fraudulent voter registration in a barangay in Makati City.

“The findings of the Comelec’s Automated Fingerprint Identification System is only recommendatory to the Election Registration Board and (ERB is) not obliged to comply with it,” Garcia in a statement sent through Viber.

He said the ERB is an independent entity from the Comelec, based on Republic Act 8189.

The group Kontra Daya-Carmona, a barangay in Makati City, filed a petition with the city’s municipal trial court, saying it is dismayed by the lack of action from Comelec.

Kontra Daya also accused the ERB for Makati’s first district of involvement in fraudulent registrations.

Garcia said that the ruling of the ERB can be appealed before any municipal trial court.

Kontra Daya led the residents in filing a petition at the Municipal Trial Court of Makati City seeking exclusion proceedings against 2,960 identified “fake voters.”

In a statement, Daryl Tadique of Kontra Daya claimed that Comelec registered thousands of individuals based on fabricated workplace identification cards, disregarding the constitutional requirement of a six-month residency preceding the election.

Tadique said there was a “suspicious” 78-percent increase in new voters in just two months this year. — Daphne Galvez