Comelec chief stresses need to update voters list
Commission on Elections Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia. (Albert Calvelo/Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia on Thursday stressed the need to update the country’s voters list due to the deaths of some voters outside their registered voting districts.
Garcia expressed this concern in a statement after attending the National Convention and Congress of Civil Registry Personnel and Implementing Partners in Civil Registration in Cebu City.
“Ang nakikita ko pong problema ay paano kapag ang botante ay namatay sa isang area o isang lugar outside where he is a registered voter?” he said.
(The problem that I see is when the voter dies in an area or a place outside where he is a registered voter?)
According to Garcia, the Comelec and the Civil Registry share a common goal of having a more accurate voters’ list. However, both parties lack the funds to facilitate the process.
But Garcia said that a bill introduced by Cavite 2nd District Representative Lani Mercado Revilla to the lower chamber would soon fill this hole as it will provide the budget for the said processes and mandates the Civil Registry main office to give an updated list of registered deaths.
“Kinabukasan, after my confirmation hearing, itong si Congresswoman Lani Mercado Revilla ay nag-file kaagad ng isang panukalang batas sa Kongreso na kung saan ay minamandato na ‘yung opisina po ninyo, yung main office n’yo will give to us the list of all those who died in that particular month or quarter and at the same time nagpe-prescribe din po s’ya ng budget para doon, para po automatically maibabayad na po sa inyong opisina.” he said.
(The day after my confirmation hearing, Congresswoman Lani Mercado Revilla immediately filed a bill in Congress which mandated that your main office will give us the list of all who died in that particular month or quarter and at the same time she also prescribed a budget for that, so that it can be automatically paid to your office.)
Once passed, Garcia said that this would boost the credibility of both Comelec and the Office of the Civil Registrar, as well as the outcome of every election conducted in the future. –Kristelle Razon, Inquirer.net trainee.
