Davao City, Davao Sur poll executives told: Explain multiple registrants

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has summoned the election officers in Davao City and Davao del Sur to explain the reported multiple registration of voters in their areas.

“We are summoning the election officers to explain why this was done. There are rules to be followed… (They) were supposed to follow this,” Larrazabal told reporters.

Howard Calleja, legal counsel of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), has expressed concern that the multiple registrants found in Davao City and Davao del Sur could just be the “tip of the iceberg” of a larger number of potential flying voters in the May 10 polls.

Calleja filed a petition yesterday with the Comelec central office in Manila, urging the poll body to cleanse its voters’ list and find out who should be held liable for the anomaly.

Calleja said they discovered some 40,000 voters entered as “double, multiple or dead registrants” in Davao City and Davao del Sur.

Calleja said multiplying the figure in the country’s 80 provinces could mean three million to four million multiple registrants.

Larrazabal said that based on the resolution they issued last October, in cases of multiple registrations, the latest registration should prevail and that the election officers should make sure that the multiple registrants are purged.

Asked what could happen to the election officers if their explanations do not satisfy the Comelec, Larrazabal said he does not want to preempt their action but added that sanctions will be imposed.

Larrazabal said the Comelec immediately began an investigation upon learning about the PPCRV’s concern.

Speaker Prospero Nograles, who is running for mayor of Davao City, said he got reliable information that a syndicate involving national and local poll officials is behind the padding of the voters’ list.

While he urged the public “to keep faith in the Comelec,” Nograles asked Comelec Chairman Jose Melo “to dig deeper” into the PPRCV findings.

“They should find out why dead people and relatives of politicians in Davao City were able to register at least twice,” he said.

Among the names in the padded list were those of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy and Sebastian Duterte, reportedly a son of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, although Calleja said they might not be aware that they were registered twice.

Calleja said there were discrepancies, too, in the posted certified voters’ lists (PCVLs) in other provinces.

He said their volunteers are thoroughly checking the PCVLs in other areas to determine if there are questionable entries.  – With Jess Diaz and Evelyn Macairan