THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) provincial office has purged the list of voters in Pangasinan and in Dagupan City after it was found to be padded by double and multiple registrants.

Provincial Elections Officer Reddy Balarbar said the double and multiple registrations were discovered after the Comelec headquarters in Manila implemented the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).

He admitted that some of the double or multiple registrants were actually able to vote twice in the last election but he did not indicate where these occurred.

Balarbar, speaking at the KBP forum last week, assured that the voters’ list for the scheduled Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections on October 25 already excludes names of those found to have registered twice or more.

Some of the entries have also been made subjects of exclusion proceedings now being initiated in court by the elections officers of Dagupan, Agno and Calasiao.

This involves people who registered with the data capturing machines in more than one city and/or municipal elections offices, which is a punishable offense.

Balarbar said 1,615,110 voters registered for the May 10, 2010 elections and new registrations were later made in preparation for the Barangay and SK elections but the number of total voters in the province is now lower since the purging.

DAGUPAN

In Dagupan, Balarbar said there are exclusion cases now being attended to by the city election office, particularly in barangays Mayombo and Caranglaan.

The suspected violators have been accused of being non-residents and have failed to show their residences in the area.

Balarbar said he could not say offhand how many double or multiple registrants were verified in Dagupan but indicated that “the file is thick.”

READY

At the same time, Balarbar gave the assurance that the provincial Comelec is now ready to administer the Barangay and SK elections.

He pointed out that the 2,334 clustered precincts used in the May 10 automated polls have been further broken down into 5,272 smaller precincts.

Previously, there were about 1,000 voters in every clustered precinct, but this has now been cut down to 400.

The voting in the Barangay and SK polls is set on October 25 from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

The election period is from September 25 to November 10, with the filing of certificates of candidacy scheduled from October 1 to midnight of October 13 and the campaign period from October 14 to October 23.

SK ABOLITION

Meanwhile, Balarbar, who himself served as an SK kagawad in his hometown San Fabian, defended the retention of youth representation in government.

He did admit that some of the policies governing the SK need to be changed, such as the SK chairman’s attendance to the council sessions and how the elders meddle with them.

“Hindi kailangang i-abolish ang  Sangguniang Kabataan, huwag lang makialam  yung mga matatanda, ” he said, adding, “Ang mga bata, kaya nilang magdesisyon. Bigyan lang sila ng guidance.”

Balarbar also defended that the SK could not be said to be a breeding ground for future corrupt officials citing that “Marami tayong pwedeng mai-sample na officials na galing dyan at naging maganda ang kinahinatnan,” he said.

The Comelec official also pointed out that the turnout of young voters during registration and the election last May 10 proves that the youth wants to be heard. –LM

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