Over 400 dead, 20 Pinoys abroad still in voters’ lists — Namfrel

The National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) yesterday said that more than 400 dead people have been included in the computerized voters list (CVL) while at least 20 others who have been abroad during the past two elections have not been deleted from the official list.

The group reported that 467 voters in the CVL were found to be deceased. Of this number, 342 were in the five towns of Ilocos Sur, 38 in five barangays (villages) in Mandaluyong City, 28 in two towns in Guimaras, 18 in Malabon City, 15 in Camarines Sur, 13 in Mountain Province and 13 in Aklan.

Several names of voters, who were out of the country during the past two elections, were still included in the CVL, said Namfrel. It said 16 were from Mountain Province, three from Southern Leyte, three from Agusan del Norte and one from Mandaluyong City.

These names should have been taken out of the list, according to the group.

The group added that at least 65 registrants from Mandaluyong City were found to have missing birth information, which caused the computer to assign them a common birthday, Jan. 1, 1900, rendering all of them to be 113 years old.

Namfrel also said 66 registrants were recorded to have one address in Mandaluyong City while 13 registered voters whose names should have appeared in the CVL were not included. These were from Aklan, Siquijor, Lanao del Norte and Taytay, Rizal.

According to Namfrel chairperson Corazon dela Paz-Bernardo, the group already asked its provincial chapters to check the CVLs that will be used on Mondayh to validate its accuracy and completeness and to check if these were posted at the local offices of the Commission on Elections.

“A clean and accurate CVL is important because it assures that only qualified voters are able to cast their votes and to uphold the democratic principle of ‘one person, one vote,'” said Bernardo.

The group also said it has already submitted the findings of their provincial and city chapters to Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. over the weekend./INQUIRER