A total of 118,178 individuals may face election offense charges after being found to have double or multiple registrations by the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Courtesy of Comelec
"The 4th column, entitled 'Based on Latest Registration REG vs REG', is a clear instance of a registered voter applying for a new registration, be it through the same or different name, or the same or different address, or the same or different picture. What is clear is that the fingerprints belong to one and the same person/s," said Comelec spokesman Rex Laudiangco on Friday, May 19. This case, whether intentional or not, requires the deletion of the new application as well as an investigation. A motu proprio complaint will then be filed and a preliminary investigation will be conducted. "Should probable cause be determined, a Criminal Information will be filed at the Regional Trial Court having jurisdiction over the city or municipality where the offense was committed," Laudiangco said. The AFIS has detected a total of 491,017 double or multiple registrants as of the January 2023 voter registration period. From this, 233,282 individuals applied for transfer but their original records were not deleted. Laudiangco said that instances like this will not be taken against the part of the subject, and an administrative deletion of the old registration records on the part of the election officer will be conducted. Meanwhile, there were 119,652 registrants who had already transferred and subsequently applied for another transfer. "Again, in this instance, what will happen is an administrative deletion of the old transferred records on the part of the Election Officer where the applicant originally came from, thereby ensuring the retention only of the current records in the OEO where he newly transferred to," he said. There were also 19,905 applicants who already had existing records in a specific area but again submitted and applied for a new registration in a different area. "In this case, which may or may not be intentional on the part of the applicant (and may or may not be subjected to an investigation), the new registration records in the another barangay, city or municipality must be deleted in order to ensure that only one registration record remain, which are the old records with the "transfer" type of registration," Laudiangco said.