Comelec: Issue on registered centenarians 'only in Taguig'

For the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the issue on the discovery by a group of 691 over-100-year-old voters reportedly registered in Taguig City is an "isolated" case, even as it assured the public on Thursday that the matter has nothing to do with any attempt at electoral fraud. Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez told reporters that the Taguig incident “seems to be" an isolated case as the poll body has yet to see if there are similar instances in other parts of the country. Jimenez made the statement after an investigation conducted by the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform headed by former Akbayan Rep. Loretta Rosales indicated that 691 voters who are more than 100 years old were found to be still included in the 2007 voters’ list in Taguig. Rosales said that of the 691 centenarian voters, 624 were born in 1901. Of this, 621 were born on January 1. She also revealed that 19 citizens were supposedly born and eventually end up registered each year from 1930 until 1959 - except 1931 and 1951 - in Taguig. Such discovery, Rosales said, should prompt the Comelec to conduct an immediate investigation in order to exact punishment from those “culpable of possible fraud." Simple computer glitch Comelec chairman Jose Melo, on the other hand, downplayed the supposed irregularity as a simple computer “glitch," saying that the similar birth dates was probably due to the failure of some registrants to put their birthdays on the registration form when they registered. He said, however, that the poll body is investigating the matter. Meanwhile, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said that if concerned parties doubt the validity of the registration of some voters, they should file a petition for exclusion with the poll body’s Election Registration Board (ERB). “If you have any questions pertaining a particular applicant or registration, you can complain before the ERB and you can question the application for registration," he said, adding that there will be an ERB hearing on November 16. Based on data of the poll body’s Election Records and Statistics Department, Taguig registered 270,691 qualified voters for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections held in 2007. Earlier, the Comelec issued Minute Resolution 09-0696 reinforcing Comelec Resolution 7893, stating that only the most recent registration will be recognized in cases of double listing. The resolution addresses individual transfers where there are unscrupulous registrants who do not bother to say they have registered before. Larrazabal said the final list of qualified voters for the 2010 elections is still being completed after the extended listup ended last Tuesday. "Right now, everybody is collating the information and preparing the report." Figures from the poll body indicate that as of July 2009, there are a total of 45,638,243 registered voters for the 2010 elections. In the 2007 elections, there were 45,029,443. - GMANews.TV