San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora could not hide his dismay over what he called "baseless" claims against him and his administration by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, including the alleged existence of 30,000 flying voters in San Juan City, on Thursday, Nov. 21.
Estrada made the claim during the Commission on Elections (Comelec) budget hearing on Nov. 18 where he said that there was an increase of 32.13 percent in the number of registered voters in San Juan from 2016 to 2022.
“Meron daw 30,000 flying voters si Mayor Francis Zamora dito sa San Juan. Ang tanong ko po, nasaan po sila? Thirty thousand na tao ang sinasabi nilang flying voters. Meron ba silang ebidensya, mga photos o videos kung saan naghahakot kami ng tao upang magrehistro sa Comelec? Dapat ay nakunan ng video sa paghakot, kung sumakay ng mga bus o jeep, nasaan po ang ebidensya? I do not need flying voters to win in San Juan (He's claiming that I have 30,000 flying voters here in San Juan. My question to him is "Where are they?" If he's saying that there are 30,000 flying voters here in the city, then where is the evidence? Do they have photos or videos of us bringing dozens of people to register at the Comelec office? I do not need flying voters to win in San Juan)," Zamora said.
He pointed out that the Estrada camp did not file any exclusion petitions with the courts from 2019 to 2022 despite having legal remedies available to challenge voter registrations.
He also noted that in a recent case, 1,224 registered voters were challenged by the Estrada camp but were later confirmed as legitimate residents by the Election Registration Board.
A recent cleansing made by Comelec removed around 9,000 voters from the voter's roll due to death or double registration.
“Hinahamon ko kayo Sen. Estrada, mag-file kayo ng exclusion sa korte. Maraming legal remedies po ang pwedeng gawin. Kung kilala niya ang mga ito, sasamahan ko pa siya na mag-file. Huwag kayong magtago sa inyong parliamentary immunity sa senado (I am challenging you to file exclusion in court Sen. Estrada. There are a lot of legal remedies that can be made. If he knows these people, I will personally accompany him in filing. Don't hide under parliamentary immunity)," Zamora stressed.
The mayor emphasized his confidence in the support of San Juan residents, stating that he does not need flying voters to win the upcoming elections.
“Napatunayan na natin sa ating mga minamahal na San Juaneño na maayos tayo bilang isang mayor, ginagawa natin ang ating tungkulin, ang laki na po ng pinagbago ng San Juan. Kitang-kita po yan ng lahat kaya 15-0 ang nakuhang boto nung 2022. Hindi po namin kailangan ang anumang flying voters sapagkat nagbigay po ng tiwala ang lungsod ng San Juan sa amin (We have already proven to our beloved San Juaeneños that I am a good mayor who does his work properly and has made a big change in San Juan. That's the reason why we have achieved the 15-0 result in the 2022 elections. We have no need of flying voters because the people of San Juan trust us)," Zamora said.