EDITORIAL - Centenarian voters

Having nearly 700 centenarians living in one city is a detail worthy of inclusion in the Guinness World Records. But the unusual longevity of city residents, recorded in the voters’ list in Taguig, is being attributed to a computer glitch. The good news is that the glitch, if that was what it was, was detected by the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, which alerted the Commission on Elections about the “curious” listing of 691 voters aged 100 or older in the poll body’s records in Taguig. Of the 691, 624 were all born in 1901, with 621 of them having the same birthday, on Jan. 1, 1901.

Comelec officials theorized that the 691 were voters who did not provide their complete personal information when they registered. Computers then supplied what was missing, using a default birth date of Jan. 1, 1901. Some of the cases might have also been due to faulty encoding of information, the Comelec said.

With the situation in Taguig serving as a lesson, the Comelec should review its voters’ lists nationwide to ferret out similar cases. Poll watchdogs can assist in this effort. The Comelec, working with these watchdogs, should determine if voters’ lists are being deliberately tampered with to lay the groundwork for cheating in the 2010 general elections. Anyone caught trying to tamper with the lists must be indicted and prosecuted for electoral sabotage and meted the stiffest penalty.

The Comelec should also look into complaints from Taguig officials about the registration in the city of over 200 enlisted personnel based at Fort Bonifacio. The soldiers reportedly listed their addresses as the Navy station as well as the Marine and Army barracks at the camp as their addresses. Taguig officials said such soldiers cannot be assigned election precincts in the city since they are not regular residents, and can vote only for national candidates.

Filipinos have high hopes for change when the country holds its first fully automated elections next year. Every effort must be made to make automation a success and the general elections credible. The process starts with cleaning up voters’ lists.