Comelec to sue culprit behind irregular registrants in Cagayan de Oro

Poll body chairman George Garcia speaks during a press conference at the Commission on Elections Central Office in Intramuros, Manila, on Friday, November 3, 2023. INQUIRER.net/Noy Morcoso

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED Thursday, Nov. 21) — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday said it will file charges against the alleged culprit—a Cagayan de Oro representative aspirant—of the irregular voter registrations of over 9,000 individuals in the said city.

Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia said the poll body en banc made this decision in their regular session held at Century Park Hotel in Pasay City.

Garcia also said the Comelec’s law department was still studying if there was enough evidence to disqualify the still-unidentified House of Representatives aspirant, who is a former village chairman.

Earlier, INQUIRER.net reported that the poll body would disqualify the alleged culprit.

But Garcia later clarified to INQUIRER.net that the Comelec en banc only instructed the poll body’s law department “to study the possibility of filing a disqualification petition against the candidate motu propio if the evidence warrants.”

“This is without prejudice to the prosecution for election offenses in relation to the said irregularity,” Garcia also said.

This aspirant used the barangay certification to allow such a scheme.

Currently, one requirement the public can present as an identification document to become a registered voter in a locality is a barangay identification.

“The village chairman issued barangay certification massively, whether for new voters or transferees,  only to find out that the same village chairman is running for a House of Representatives seat,” Garcia told INQUIRER.net in an ambush interview after the regular Comelec en banc.

“Isn’t that a super conflict of interest? We will not allow that; we want to teach a lesson or two so aspirants won’t do that,” he further said.

Garcia said the aspirant will face a criminal charge under the Omnibus Election Code.

The Comelec has formed a task force to investigate suspicious transfers of voters from one place to another.

The formation of this task force was prompted by allegations of anomalous voter registrants in Makati City.