MANILA, Philippines — While facing investigation and possible criminal suit, the estimated one million double or multiple registrants still have the chance to vote in the May 2025 midterm elections, the Commission on Elections said yesterday.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia said only the “subsequent registrations” of multiple registrants will be removed from the official list of voters.
“The multiple registrations won’t be removed; the registration is retained even for a double or multiple registrant. The initial registration remains,” Garcia said in a radio interview yesterday.
“A person cannot be deprived of his right to vote, as stated in our Constitution,” he added.
According to Garcia, the Comelec has identified around a million double and multiple registrants following the hearings conducted by the Election Registration Board (ERB) from February until September.
He said those people, whether deliberately or not, decided to register as voters in another place instead of just transferring their registration. It’s suspicious that the number of registrants in certain areas would unusually increase, prompting the Comelec to investigate.
Garcia said double and multiple registrants are common in the National Capital Region and various parts of Mindanao. The Comelec will post the list of double and multiple registrants nationwide on its website.
The poll chief stressed the need for Comelec to purge the voters’ list from double and multiple registrants to prevent those people from voting more than once.
The ERB will also call double and multiple registrants to explain their side. Criminal charges will be filed against those found guilty of committing such election offense.
Garcia said the Comelec would be able to identify all double and multiple registrants through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System.
Teachers’ benefits
Meanwhile, the Comelec has given assurance of enhanced benefits and protection for teachers who will serve in the 2025 elections, the ACT Teachers party-list said yesterday.
Former ACT Teachers party-list representative Antonio Tinio said they secured the commitment directly from Garcia during a dialogue at the Comelec office yesterday.
Tinio said Garcia agreed to double the service credits for teachers from five to 10 days and extend five days of service credits to other government employees serving in elections.
Tinio said Garcia also committed to implement the previously announced P2,000 increase in honorarium and work towards providing a P1,000 transportation allowance for election day. Additionally, the Comelec will streamline the process for reimbursing legal and medical expenses of teachers.
He said the dialog was attended by himself, Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) national chairman Vladimer Quetua, ACT-NCR union president Ruby Bernardo and other education sector leaders.
“We welcome these concrete steps to protect our teachers. The removal of the digital signature requirement and the assignment of two additional support staff per precinct will significantly ease their election day duties,” Tinio said.
Tinio said the establishment of a partnership between the ACT election hotline and Comelec will further strengthen the support system for teachers during elections. — Jose Rodel Clapano