Comelec cool to satellite registration for GMA

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is not inclined to set up a satellite voter’s registration for former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who has been stricken from the voter’s list for failing to vote in the barangay and midterm polls last year.

In an interview, Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said while they have “detainee satellite registration,” it may not apply to Arroyo, who has been on hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City since December 2011.

“There is a set of guidelines that we have to follow and I think there is a minimum number of people that must be assigned to a particular satellite registration,” he said.

Brillantes added that holding satellite registrations would entail bringing the voter’s registration machines and Comelec personnel and dispatching vehicles that would transport them, among other logistic requirements.

“I don’t think it is practical to do that. There are many other detainees, so why do it for her alone?” he said.

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.

As a policy, a person who is not a registered voter is disqualified from seeking an elective post.

Under Comelec Resolution 9853, promulgated last Feb. 19, a satellite registration shall not have less than 200 prospective registrants. Only those who have not been convicted with finality could avail of this.

Arroyo is facing a plunder charge for the alleged misuse of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office funds during her administration.

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 delisted, to apply for the transfer of their registration records and to apply for correction in or to update their records.