Comelec house-to-house canvass in San Juan possible – poll lawyer

Atty. Romulo Macalintal, election lawyer FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Jinggoy Estrada has the power to ask the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to conduct a house-to-house canvass to address the issue of flying voters in San Juan City, an election lawyer said on Wednesday.
According to Atty. Romulo Macalintal, Estrada has the authority to do so as a senator.
“Senator Estrada, with his power as a legislator, can ask Comelec to exercise its power under Section 144 of the Omnibus Election Code to conduct a “house-to-house canvass of the registered voters for purposes of exclusion proceedings,” Macalintal said in a statement.
This came after Estrada during the proposed budget deliberation of Comelec on Monday sounded alarm on the alleged case of flying voters in San Juan City.
Estrada noted that registered voters in the City saw a 32.13 percent increase from 71,225 voters in 2016 to 109,640 voters in 2022.
Article continues after this advertisementThe senator pointed out that it was “highly irregular” as he compared it to other nearby cities like Pasig and Mandaluyong that had an increase of 3.75 percent and 1.33 percent voters, respectively.
Article continues after this advertisementREAD: Jinggoy Estrada raises concern over San Juan City’s ‘flying voters’
“This is indeed a cause for alarm and very important issue which should be addressed immediately by the Comelec in order to protect the integrity of the list of voters, not only in San Juan City, but also in some areas which, during the same budget hearing, were also raised by Senator Imee Marcos, sponsor of the Comelec budget,” Macalintal added.
In the same deliberation, Senator Imee Marcos said that Comelec cannot exclude the voters from the list since no petitions were filed against them. Macalintal then said Estrada has other available measures to act on it.
“Senator Estrada can immediately call for an urgent legislative inquiry in aid of legislation in view of what Senator Marcos’ lament that the Comelec cannot remove said flying voters from the list due to non-filing of petition for their exclusion from the list of voters,” Macalintal noted.
Further, the election lawyer also said that Estrada can file criminal cases against the alleged flying voters as mandated by the Section 261 (y)(2) of the Omnibus Election Code.
READ: Sen. Marcos: Comelec to probe ‘unusual’ hike in Makati City voters
He cited an example where around 1,458 criminal cases were filed against flying voters in Pasay City for using falsified addresses in their registration.