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Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Voters' list of autonomous Mindanao bloated by 300T: poll exec
MANILA - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) failed to remove an estimated 300,000 double and multiple registrants in the voters' list in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) when it implemented a purge of the roster for the mid-term elections last week.
Comelec Executive Director Jose Pio Joson made the admission following reports that the results of the canvassing in the province of Maguindanao indicated that the number of those who actually voted was higher than the registered voters.
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Joson said the commission failed to weed out double and multiple registrants in the Armm's voters' list not only due to lack of time but primarily because the system they implemented was incapable of cleansing the list.
He said in the five provinces of Armm, namely, Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-tawi, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao, the number of voters for the past three years ballooned from 50,000 to as high as 60,000.
Records of the Comelec showed that in Lanao del Sur, nearly all of its 40 towns registered over 10 percent growth in the number of voters and the highest increase was noted in Buadiposo-Buntong with 120.40 percent more voters now than in 2004.
The other towns registered a 20 to 60 percent voters' population increase.
In Basilan, only four of 10 towns recorded an increase in voter population while in Sulu, no triple-digit growth rates were registered but in 16 of its 18 towns, there was a more than 10 percent increase.
In Tawi-tawi, only eight of its 11 towns posted a growth in voter population by more than 10 percent and in Maguindanao, nine of its 23 towns had voters' population growth higher than 10 percent.
Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, who is in charge of Armm, said the bloated number of voters was due to the lack of time to do the cleansing.
"There was no more time to cleanse the list legally through exclusion proceedings," Sarmiento told reporters.
Sarmiento is set to leave on Thursday for Lanao del Sur to supervise the scheduled special elections after 13 towns in that province.
He said he will also look into the increase in the number of voters in Armm and also the reported cheating in Maguindanao where teachers were allegedly forced to accomplish empty ballots and put the names of the Team Unity candidates.
GO reelectionist senator Panfilo Lacson said the public, including on his fellow candidates, must keep close watch particularly in Bulacan, Bicol and Mindanao, and some parts of Metro Manila.
Lacson said they received reports of "unnecessary delays in the canvassing" in Quezon City, San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan, and four towns in Sultan Kudarat province, in Albay province and Legazpi City in Bicol.
The opposition also questioned the results of elections in Maguindanao that gave the Team Unity a 12-0 vote, raising concerns of cheating following claims of supposed witnesses that they were made to fill blanks in ballots for the administration senatorial candidates. (MSN/JMR/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Baguio. (May 22, 2007 issue)
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