SEN. Nancy Binay sought accountability from barangay officials who allegedly abuse the issuance of residence certificates as a requirement for voter transfer or registration.
The senator raised the matter on Monday during the deliberations on the proposed 2025 budget of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Binay said there has been an “unusual” increase of 55 percent in the number of new voters in the second district of Makati and 15 percent in the first district, far from the about five percent “normal rise” in the voting population.
The Comelec found this increase unusual because some villages in Makati were absorbed by Taguig City but there were about 57,000 new registered voters in Makati City.
The poll body received reports of addresses provided by transferees and registrants that were either non-existent, uninhabited, or unfit for living.
Binay said that this should be investigated.
There have been reports that barangay chairmen would issue residence certificates “without verifying if they are legitimate residents of the said villages,” she said.
Binay said criminal cases may be filed against barangay officials found to be involved in the anomalous voter registrations, or those complicit in the violation of election laws.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the agency will study the recommendation of the Election Registration Board and the task force formed to investigate the surge in voters.
“The data for Makati is fairly clear because the questions arose during the exclusion effort,” said Sen. Imee Marcos, who sponsored the Comelec’s budget.
She said that in Makati, the new registrants in the two districts reached 18,555. “But the number of transferees from other cities and municipalities is 38,031. If we add up the new registrants and transferees it will be 56,586 [new voters],” Marcos said in Filipino.
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