MANILA -- Poll watchers and volunteers in Monday’s elections may have just contributed to the confusion, a city election official said.
The Manila City Comelec Office was crowded with complaints from voters whose names were on the master list, but were not in the list of voters registered at their polling precincts.
Narciso Arabe, Commission on Elections (Comelec) officer for Manila's 5th District, said voters should have checked their names against official lists posted at polling centers.
Arabe told Sun.Star that voters sent to his office to verify their registration are often found on the official lists.
He said the problem may lie with lists that partisan poll watchers use to help voters find their polling precincts.
“Alam mo naman ngayon, madaling i-edit sa computer ang listahan para mag dagdag o mag bawas.”
He added the so-called master lists used by deputized volunteers from the Parish-Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV)) may not have come from the Comelec. PPCRV volunteers should have coordinated with the Comelec to get copies of the official voters' lists.
PPCRV volunteers at Araullo High School, which is under the 5th District, earlier said their list had been compiled by officials of Barangay 666 and 667. “That isn't the official list,” Arabe reiterated.
He said the number of "misplaced" voters has been small, around 10 to 20 per school. "It's not that rampant." (Jonathan de Santos/Sunnex)