Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will soon facilitate the registration of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Aroyo, who has been stricken from the voter’s list for failing to vote in the barangay and midterm polls in 2013.
“We no longer have problem with that. We will just send our election officer along with the documents [to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City],” said Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes in an interview.
Arroyo is currently under hospital arrest at the VMMC for plunder charges in connection with her alleged misuse of some P366 million in Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office intelligence funds.
Brillantes added that Arroyo’s camp would shoulder all the cost concerning her registration.
“We will not spend for it, GMA’s camp will shoulder everything,” he added.
The poll chief said they were just arranging the schedule of Arroyo’s registration at the VMMC.
Arroyo, who is now on her second term in Congress, recently asked the Sandiganbayan to allow her to apply for reactivation of her voter’s registration in her hometown of Lubao, Pampanga.
A person who is not a registered voter is disqualified from seeking an elective post.
The Sandiganbayan First Division granted the petition of Arroyo to be allowed to register as a voter and have her biometrics data taken by the Comelec.
Based on the order of the anti-graft court, Lubao, Pampanga Election officer Leonilo Paule Miguel, or a duly authorized representative, is being ordered to register Arroyo at her place of detention at the VMMC not later than October 15, 2015.
The Comelec is holding voter’s registration from May 6, 2014 to Oct. 31, 2016 as part of the preparation for the 2016 midterm polls.
This period also allows voters to apply for the reactivation of their registration in case they have been de-listed, to apply for the transfer of their registration records and to apply for correction in or to update their records.
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