Poll registration board denies Chavit petition to transfer residency

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union, Philippines – Former Ilocos Sur governor Luis “Chavit” Singson cannot run for mayor in Narvacan, Ilocos Sur.

The Election Registration Board (ERB), in a decision last Jan. 19, denied Singson’s petition to transfer his residency from Vigan City to Barangay Sulvec in Narvacan. 

“A vote of 2-1 disapproved the application… by reasons of lack of residency…it is quite unbelievable for him to be living in a very simple house, no personal things like clothes, toiletries, stove, cooking and eating utensils inside the house that would indicate that the applicant is living in there,” the ERB’s certificate of disapproval said. 

Narvacan municipal election registrar Babelyn Guirnalda and education districtsupervisor Alegria Molina voted against the petition. Town treasurer Zenaida Salang voted for it.. 

Sources said Singson plans to run against Zuriel Zaragosa, whose father, National Tobacco Administration administrator Edgardo Zaragosa, is running against Ilocos Sur Gov. Ryan Singson in 2016.

The governor and Zaragosa have been at odds over the situation of tobacco farmers in the region.