Dagupan voters now 99,327
NO FLYING VOTERS
THE number of voters in Dagupan reached 99,327 as of the close of registration last October 31, according to City Election Officer Remarque Ravanzo who maintained there were no flying voters registered in the city.
He clarified, however, that the 4,711 new registrants with 660 transferees are still subject to final validation and approval by the Election Registration Board (ERB), which convenes on November 19 in Dagupan to screen the names.
Ravanzo, speaking Thursday before the KBP forum, said 93,956 voters were already validated by ERB as of October 15.
He said that under the centralized database and fingerprint identification scan, flying voters cannot easily register.
LP COMPLAINT
At the same time, Ravanzo admitted he already received a letter from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) regional office asking him to respond to the complaint filed against him last October 29 by the legal officer of the Liberal Party (LP) in Dagupan.
The complaint filed by Atty. Francisco Angeles was endorsed by Provincial Elections Supervisor Marino Salas to Comelec Regional Director Noli Pipo.
The LP complaint accuses Ravanzo of alleged failure to properly conduct the voter registration proceedings “on a manner that is free, biased and credible”.
Ravanzo declined to comment to the media on the accusation, but added that it was not just LP that complained but the Nacionalista Party (NP) as well.
He did not cite the specific grounds of the NP complaint which was not formally filed and media never reported it.
Ravanzo said that there were really “just too many people” who trooped to the City Election Office during the last few days of registration but insisted that this is a national phenomenon “considering the mentality of people to move only during the last two minutes”.
“Medyo mild pa nga iyon. Hindi mas marami kaysa sa nakaraang registrations,” he said, adding that they did their best under the situation without any bias.
On the accusation that “concerned persons” or supporters of candidates hauled voters to the Comelec to register, Ravanzo said it is too late in the day to raise the issue which should have been investigated on site.
He maintained that hauling people to register is punishable as an election offense under the election code.
He also pointed out that were also persons who were denied registration for failing to show any document.
PUNCH sources said many of the last day registrants were transferees armed with certificates from barangay chairmen identified with Mayor Benjamin Lim.
“The number one problem is documentation,” he said, explaining that the transferees were required to produce valid identification cards or those issued by government agencies, like the Government Service Insurance System, Social Security System, Land Transportation Office, including Police Clearance and National Bureau of Investigation Clearance.
An acceptable alternative was company ID which must reflect the date of issue and expiration.
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