“Using the Automated Finger Print Identification System and other personal biometric information, voters with more than one registration can be easily identified”– City Elections Officer Dosdado Javier
By DANILDA L. FUSILERO
Davao Today
KIDAPAWAN CITY, Cotabato, Philippines — Voters with double registration will be deprived of their right to vote come 2013 elections, a local Comelec (Commission on Elections) officer here warned.
“Using the Automated Finger Print Identification System (Afpis) and other personal biometric information, voters with more than one registration can be easily identified,” City Elections Officer Dosdado Javier told Davao Today.
Javier said voters who wish to transfer their registration should accomplish pertinent requirements at any Comelec office to be safe from deletion in the final list of registered voters. After October 31 this year, election offices will be facilitating the cleansing of the official list of registered voters.
Javier made clear that, should these voters with more than one registration fail to accomplish his transfer, he will be automatically deleted from the official list of voters.
These safety nets on double registration are part of the government’s program to protect the integrity of electoral process in the country, he said.
The Kidapawan City elections office reported that, at present, they have more than 68,000 registered voters accounted for. In between continuing registration, they are also facilitating requests for transfers of some registered voters.
Meanwhile, the Comelec office here also announced some changes in the filing of Certificate of Candidacy (COC) by would be political candidates for next year’s elections. Unlike in previous years, Javier said the Commission is now restrained from accommodating COCs until 12 midnight on the last day of filing.
In the past, some candidates especially those who are incumbents filed their COCs at the eleventh-hour or minutes before midnight of the last day of filing, Javier noted.
“Posible meron pang di natapos na transaction sa kani-kanilang offices, that’s why they are maximizing the grace period until 12 midnight,” he said.
Comelec also announced that candidates who belong to a political party should file their respective COCs in group with attached Certificate of Nomination from the party he or she belongs. Candidates filing COCs individually will be treated as independent candidates.
Comelec office here also said that after the first application of the automated precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machine in casting votes in 2010, they are optimistic that elections in 2013 would be more manageable.
“For our illiterate voters, shading is conveniently easier rather than writing down the whole name of the candidates they wish to vote,” Javier said. (Danilda L. Fusilero/davaotoday.com)
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