MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino reiterated on Thursday afternoon the need for a re-registration of voters in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to ensure clean elections in the region.
The Aquino administration hopes to free the ARMM from the influence of political warlords who are believed to be behind election cheating in the region.
Aquino’s latest statement on the voters’ list of ARMM came weeks after the Commission on Elections denied Malacañang’s request for the annulment of the existing voters’ list to pave the way for a general re-registration in the region. The Comelec cited time constraint as the reason for the denial of the appeal.
“As far as the re-registration is concerned, if you remember, we had a talk with the chairman wherein we gave him the data that the National Statistics Office gave us and we think that’s a very important concern,” President Aquino said, referring to a report by the NSO exposing bloated population figures in ARMM used to justify padded voters’ lists.
“Cleansing all of the roads is very important. We understand that there will be moves by both chambers of Congress to reiterate the need for re-registration as far as ARMM is concerned to have credible elections,” he added.
Aquino presented Brillantes with figures from the NSO last March.
NSO administrator Carmelita Ericta said during the discussion that while the population in the ARMM was 4.1 million in 2007, a revalidation of the figures in 2010 pegged the figure at only at a little more than 3.3 million.
Ericta also said that while the entire country’s population grew by just 1.89 percent between 2000 and 2007, the ARMM reported a growth rate of 5.46 percent. Maguindanao had the biggest growth rate at 6.6 percent and was followed by Basilan at 6.44 percent.
“The point is you will look for ways and means if a compromise is needed, a way that isn’t too much of a compromise. I think I will be coming up with a statement soon,” Aquino said.
“We will reiterate that there is a necessity to ensure that the voters’ list are actual and correct especially as far as ARMM is concerned,” he added.