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Monday, September 15, 2003
Editorial: A review of the Comelec revalidation is needed
APALIT Mayor Tirso Lacanilao may have a point in questioning the registration and validation of voters in Barangay Sampaloc, Apalit town.
In a complaint he filed before Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos, Lacanilao said that some 170 members of the Dating Daan religious group registered as "new voters" in Sampaloc. Now there seems to be nothing wrong with this except that most of the applicants were past the new registrant ages -- more than 20 to 40 years old.
Probably, and we mean probably, some of the registrants may have indeed not voted in their entire lives. But this is rather preposterous since almost every Filipino, upon reaching the age of 18, would almost always excitedly exercise his or her right of suffrage.
In Lacanilao's complaint, he claimed that the registrants are not true residents of Apalit and that the local Comelec office should have required the registrants to submit clearances from the Sampaloc barangay captain where they claim to be residents. Lacanilao opined that it is only the barangay officials who really know if an individual truly resides in a certain area.
Amid the furor over the issue, Lacanilao finally said that there appears to be a lot of flaws in our registration and validation system. And we cannot help but concur with his view.
For instance, we have an employee who once worked and resided in Quezon City. The aforementioned employee now wants to vote in Angeles City where she set up residence. With the system applied by the Apalit Comelec officer, our employee can just register in Angeles City by presenting the same documents submitted by the Dating Daan members and presto! She can now be allowed to vote in the 2004 polls.
Abalos should take steps to review the current system of revalidation. Anybody can now vote in any place he or she chooses. Before a registrant is accepted, there is a need to know if he or she canceled previous registration or request a Comelec registration officer to cause the cancellation of the voter or the transferee's registration.
Under the system now being employed by the Comelec, one can just come into a Comelec office, present his or her ID and get registered.
What prevents a voter already registered in Barangay Cut-Cut from registering again in Barangay San Nicolas? Or, if we are to get back to the case of our employee originally registered, what if she now registers in Angeles but does not take any effort to cancel her old registration? Can anyone use the same registered name for fly voting?
The new registration, we were told, is a system of validation. Everyone must register and hence everyone is considered a new registrant.
But in this new system the Comelec must do its best to avoid confusion and yes, prevent a dirty election.
(September 14, 2003 issue)
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