BACOLOD City Election Registrar Mavil Majarucon-Sia yesterday, May 14, confirmed there were some "flying voters" in four barangays in the city.
Majarucon-Sia said these “flying voters” cast their votes in the areas of Barangays Estefania, Bata, Sum-ag, and Punta Taytay.
"It is an isolated issue, but there were some (flying voters) who successfully cast their votes using the names of other registered voters," she said.
She added that there is no complainant so they cannot identify the perpetrators yet.
“Flying voters” are those who registered in multiple precincts and are used by politicians to get more votes.
"I instructed my assistant Comelec officer to go around and they were able to address the issue, but some of the flying voters have already cast their votes," Majarucon-Sia said.
She said the flying voters used the names of other registered voters. When the registered voters arrived at the polling precincts, their names were already filled out.
"The problem is there is no complainant and we cannot identify the persons because of the Data Privacy Act," she added.
Majarucon-Sia noted that in the previous elections, the birth date of the voters are included in the lists so they can double check the identity of the voters, but now it is only the names.
Commissioner Rowena Guazon had earlier said that Negros Occidental will be among the pilot areas for the Voters Verification System (VVS) in the 2019 elections.
Other pilot areas are Quezon City, Manila, Cavite, Pangasinan, Cebu including Cebu City, Davao Del Sur including Davao City, Zamboanga del Sur including Zamboanga City and Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
VVS is a machine wherein voters will be recognized through their thumb marks, like the ones used by employees in high-tech offices.
Meanwhile, Majarucon-Sia said they received several complaints from voters yesterday who failed to locate their names within their respective polling precincts.
"Their names are not deleted. They only failed to locate it because most of them just assumed that their voting center is still the same with the previous elections. It is their obligation to get their precincts number before the Election Day," she said.
Majarucon-Sia noted that 80 percent of Bacolod voters failed to remember their precincts number.
"We have done our very best and the only problem is the voters who are not learning," she said.
(MAP)