THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday blamed local civil registrars over the continued presence of the names of dead registered voters in the voters list for the May 9 national and local polls.
In an interview with reporters, Elections Commissioner George Garcia said the poll body should not be blamed if the names of those who have already died are still included in the list of individuals who can cast their votes in the coming elections.
“Under the Voter’s Registration Act of 1996, the Comelec must be provided a certification or list of names of those that died per quarter. The problem is, sometimes, it is the fault of the civil registrars. They are unable to submit the names of those that died,” Garcia said.
The poll official said the Comelec cannot simply remove the names of the deceased voters sans the certification from the local civil registrars.
“The Comelec, despite knowing that Aling Maria or Ka Pedro has died, they cannot just remove their names. There has to be a certification from the civil registrar, who should be giving us lists regularly or on a quarterly basis,” Garcia said.
As early as April last year, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez had called on those who lost their loved ones due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic to report their death to the city or municipal Office of the Election Officer (OEO).
Jimenez has said that such acts will help ensure that their names are taken off the lists of voters for the May 9 elections.
In a television report on Monday, Jimenez expressed concerns that there could still be deceased voters on the list, which he said can be used by disgruntled losing candidates or political parties as an argument that the elections are rigged.
ELECTION PARAPHERNALIA
Meanwhile, the Comelec said that while election forms, documents, and supplies are set to be released only early in the morning of Election Day, it will allow the early distribution of the materials prior to May 9.
Based on Resolution No. 10775, the Comelec en banc said it has decided to allow poll supplies and paraphernalia to be released earlier to concerned electoral boards (EBs) upon the determination and request of their city/municipal Election Officers and Treasurers.
“There is a need to immediately act on requests for authority for the early distribution of election forms, paraphernalia, and supplies, to ensure that the forms, paraphernalia, and supplies are distributed in time for the opening of polls on Election Day,” said the Comelec.
“The early distribution of election forms, paraphernalia, and supplies shall be carried out not earlier than three days from the day of the Election,” it clarified, though.
The poll body said all requests must be submitted not later than April 15, 2022.
Comelec guidelines provide that all Request for Authority for Early Distribution must include the names of the election officer and treasurer, the clustered precincts whose forms and supplies are to be released early, date and time of the release, location of the voting center, and the reason or reasons for the early release.
It said the early release will be allowed if any of four circumstances are present in the concerned local government units.
The four include having considerable distance between the office of the city or municipal treasurer and the location of the voting center, difficulty or lack of transportation between the office of the city or municipal treasurer and the voting center, having a high number of precincts in the city or municipality, or the peace and order condition in the area justify early distribution to ensure the security of the election forms, paraphernalia, and supplies as well as the safety of the EBs.
The Comelec said concerned Provincial Election Supervisors (PES) or Election Officers (EOs) shall recommend to the Regional Election Director (RED) the approval of the request for early distribution.
Subsequently, the concerned Regional Election Directors (REDs) are tasked to submit his/her recommendation to the Comelec en banc, thru the Office of the Deputy Executive Director for Operations.
“In no case shall the early distribution of election forms, paraphernalia, and supplies be authorized without the approval of the Commission En Banc,” it stressed.
And upon the approval of the request, the Commission said concerned election officers must notify the candidates, political parties, and party-list organizations, as well as accredited citizens’ arm not later than three days before the schedule of early delivery of election forms, paraphernalia, and supplies.
This will be done by posting a notice of the date, time, and place of the early delivery in the bulletin boards of the Office of the Election Officer (OEO) and of the city or municipal hall, and in at least three conspicuous places in the city or municipality.
Similarly, all approved requests for early distribution of election forms, paraphernalia, and supplies shall be posted on the official Comelec website.
VOTE BUYING
The Department of Justice will form a composite team for the Comelec’s inter-agency task force against vote buying, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said yesterday.
Guevarra said the team will be composed of prosecutors from the National Prosecution Service, lawyers from the Public Attorneys’ Office and the main and field offices of the DOJ Action Center as well as investigators from the National Bureau of Investigation.
“Considering the importance of the forthcoming elections to the survival and recovery of the nation, I will direct the DOJ contingent to give the highest priority to this campaign in the next 40 days,” Guevarra told reporters in a text message.
The task force, according to the Comelec, will be composed of the DOJ, Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Philippine Information Agency, NBI, Philippine National Police, and Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The poll body said the task force will act on both motu propio and formal complaints involving vote buying.
Earlier this month, footage emerged in social media of supporters handing out envelopes allegedly containing P500 to the attendees of a UniTeam rally in Nueva Ecija.
Nueva Ecija Governor Oyie Umali said the envelopes contained financial aid to his constituents, and not to buy their votes.
The poll body has tried to address the perennial problem of vote buying in 2013 by proposing a ban on the withdrawal of more than P100,000 a day, the transportation of cash beyond P500,000 and the encashment of checks worth more than P500,000 before that year’s mid-term elections.
But the Supreme Court turned down the proposal. — With Ashzel Hachero
