Taguig executive to Comelec: Explain 'centenarians'

MANILA, Philippines - An official of the Taguig City government asked the local Commission on Elections (Comelec) for a formal written explanation concerning the discovery of more than 600 “centenarians” who were included in the city’s official voter’s list.

In a letter to Taguig Election Officer Marcos Lauron, City Administrator Wilfredo Villar said a written explanation of what really happened to the city’s voter’s list should be made.

“The discovery and expose about the more than 600 centenarians registered voters in Taguig City casts doubt on the integrity of the city’s official voter’s list. Now is the time to act. Comelec should realize that election day is just six months away,” Villar said.

This developed while Taguig Mayor Sigfrido Tiñga also called on Comelec Chairman Jose Melo to get to the root of the problem.

Tiñga expressed concern that the poll body’s explanation of an alleged computer glitch as the cause of the city having 691 centenarian registrants may not only affect Taguig’s voters’ lists, but may also cause confusion in the assignment of polling precincts come election time.

The mayor stressed that the Comelec should pinpoint what actually caused the problem to ensure that no further computer-related glitches will arise and affect the orderly conduct of the elections in the city.

Comelec officials earlier explained that this might be due to the computer default, where registrants who failed to write down their actual birth dates are registered under the computer’s default birth date of Jan. 1, 1901. Others might be due to erroneous encoding.

Tiñga argued that applications for registration with incomplete basic information, such as birth date and year of birth, should not have been validated and registered in the first place.   – Rhodina Villanueva