Comelec probes 43K multiple registrants, downplays fraud plot

Even as it started investigating the discovery of 43,000 multiple registrants for the May polls, the Commission on Elections downplayed claims that the supposed listing mess is part of a plot for massive poll cheating. Comelec spokesman James Arthur Jimenez said on Sunday that not all the 43,000 multiple registrations are “malicious" in nature and registrants may only have made honest mistakes. “Di lahat sa kanila ay malicious, o may makita kang intention na mandaya. Marami rin, ako mismo lumipat ako ng lugar at nagparehistro ako uli (Not all the multiple registrations are malicious. You have to look at the intention. There may be cases such mine where I changed residences and registered as a member of a new community)," Jimenez said in an interview on dzBB radio. But he said that Comelec has started an investigation to ferret out who deliberately registered more than once. Those found to have registered more than once in order to cheat in the elections will be punished, he said. “Iimbestigahan natin bawa’t isa para siguraduhing yaong mga inosente hindi makukulong. Ang nandaya di pabobotohin di patatakbuhin at ikukulong din po (We will investigate the matter to make sure that those who had no intention of cheating are not punished. Those guilty will not be allowed to vote or run for public office, and they will be jailed)," he said. No elections failure Amid the reported discovery of thousands of multiple registrants, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last Friday night assured foreign correspondents there will be no failure of elections in May. The president made the reassurance at a dinner she hosted for the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) at the Palace. A Malacañang statement said Mrs. Arroyo told the journalists she received the assurance of the Comelec that it is doing its best to complete the automated poll system before May. She added all the funds necessary for holding the national elections have been disbursed. At the dinner, Mrs. Arroyo also said she will continue to focus on her 3Es - education, economy and environment - program for the rest of her term. She added the country will maintain its stimulus program this year "as no other country in the world has scrapped its stimulus program." Opposition leader alarmed An opposition leader and a critic of the Arroyo administration on Saturday voiced alarm over the discovery of 43,000 multiple registrants. Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay suspected there were more than the 43,000 multiple-voter registrants the Comelec discovered in two regions. “In fact, voter manufacturing has been a sunrise industry since 2001, when Arroyo took power. They have manufactured election results in Maguindanao in 2004 and padded voters’ list everywhere in 2007 in their vain attempt to steal the elections," Binay said in an article posted on the Makati City web portal. Binay, former President Joseph Estrada's running mate for the 2010 polls, added “voter trafficking" has been the hallmark of the present administration. He said government should now go after who masterminded the multiple registration and who made sure these registrants will not be detected. “What we are probably witnessing is a variation of the ‘prepaid’ vote, where voters’ mobilization, for a fee, is done in advance through means which are patently illegal, like marshaling would-be flying voters to register many times," he added. He urged the Comelec to publish the names of the double registrants, which he said may eventually lead to the "shepherds." Binay added that these double registrations could not be products of individual enterprise, or pranksters and hackers working alone, but by organized electoral criminals. LBG, GMANews.TV