A lawmaker has called for a congressional investigation on reports of an anomalous increase in new voters for the 2025 polls in certain areas.
In a privilege speech, Cagayan de Oro Representative Lord Suan said the irregular surge in the number of new voters happened in Batangas, Makati, Nueva Ecija, among others.
“A 5% increase in new voters is normal, but a 10% or 20% increase is a red flag. It is even scandalous to see a 40% increase in the voting population, and there was a report of a 55% surge in voter registration in just one barangay,” Suan said.
“These increases defy normal statistical patterns. In the words of our Comelec Chairman Garcia, is there a gold rush in these areas? I humbly urge this august chamber to conduct an investigation in aid of legislation on the anomalous increase of new voters in some barangays, municipalities, cities, and provinces,” he added.
The lawmaker said that areas with suspicious increases in newly registered voters are happening in areas with no significant surge of economic, business, and employment opportunities, and those with youth populations that are not large enough “to remarkably increase the voting population beyond normal.”
Suan said the abnormal increase in the voting population could also be due to individuals enticing voters to transfer registration with a promise of money, employment, assistance, or other services in exchange for a favorable vote for a particular politician.
“There is nothing new with this scheme. In traditional political maneuverings, we call them ‘flying voters.’ Today, these flying voters have landed en masse and registered as new voters, but they will never establish domicile in that area. As proof, almost 40 newly registered voters share a single address,” Suan said.
“We also found out, as did the Comelec, that flying voters were able to register successfully because of the unprecedented and anomalous issuance of residence certificates in barangays. We saw this pattern, and we were wary then because we believed it would find its way to the 2025 elections,” he added.
Further, Suan said the people’s desire to change residences and register as new voters for reasons of opportunity, comfort, and convenience could be conveniently used as a masquerade to cover some quarters’ intent to cheat the system.
“This [congressional] investigation will uncover the scheme of transferring new voters to areas for political gain and expose individuals who orchestrated such illegal acts. More importantly, Mr. Speaker, it will help us identify the flaws in our existing election laws and allow us to craft new ones to protect the exercise of our people’s sovereign will,” he said.
“The right of suffrage is one of the pillars of our democratic and republican state because the Constitution states that sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them (Article 2, Section 1). Therefore, it is always imperative for a democratic country such as ours to have transparent, fair, honest, and credible elections, and the first critical step in the exercise of the right of suffrage is the registration of voters,” Suan added.
GMA News Online sought the reaction of the Comelec on this matter.—LDF, GMA Integrated News
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