Comelec forms task force to probe suspicious transfer of voters

Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia —Inquirer photo/Richard A. Reyes

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday said the poll body formed a task force to investigate suspicious transfers of voters from one place to another.

Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia made the announcement as allegations of anomalous voter registrants in Makati City emerged.

READ: 38 voters with 1 address? Over 3,000 registrants in Makati district flagged

Garcia, however, noted that “even before the Makati [incident] the task force had already been formed to investigate such irregularity.”

The party led by Sen. Nancy Binay, who is gunning for Makati City’s mayoral seat on Monday questioned before Comelec the validity of the qualifications of 3,000 registrants in the 2nd district and 79 more in the 1st district.

Garcia even said that similar irregularities were observed in the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Cagayan de Oro, and Batangas.

He said the poll body learned that “as high as 40 percent of the total number of registered voters” were found to be irregular in some areas.

Furthermore, he noted that such activities occur due to the lax issuance of barangay certificates in certain areas.

Garcia warned that “abuses” of barangay certification issuance may compel the poll body to no longer accept such a document as a valid voter identification.