Comelec’s Garcia wants amendments to Voter’s Registration Act to fix ‘loopholes’ in system

The Voter's Registration Act should be amended after the 2022 national and local elections to address the "loopholes" in the Commission on Elections system, poll Commissioner George Garcia said Tuesday.

Garcia made the remark amid reports of some deceased individuals who are still on the list of voters.

"Alam ninyo po, immediately after the elections, ipapangako ko po sa inyo aayusin po natin yung batas yung Republic Act 8189, 'yung mga loopholes na 'yan, 'yung mga problema na yan," Garcia said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB.

(Immediately after the elections, I promise to fix the loopholes and the problems in Republic Act 8189.)

"Matagal na rin po, panawagan ko na po 'yan noon pa man, kaya lang po may batas po kasi na Republic Act 8189, dapat diyan binabago na, ina-amend na upang yung mga mismong butas na 'yan ay mapalsakan na at 'di na mangyari uli ang mga ito," he added.

(I have been calling for this since then but there should be amendments to the Republic Act 8189 so we can address the gaps in the law and prevent the recurrence of these incidents.)

Meanwhile, Garcia expressed concern on possible obstructions should the voters' information are integrated with the National ID System.

"Maganda po 'yung suhestiyon kung maili-link po natin pero siyempre po tatandaan po natin na 'di ba po na-question po ang issue patungkol sa pag-i-issue ng National ID dahil dapat limitado ang impormasyon daw na meron doon sa national ID and therefore kung magsasama ng ibang impormasyon e baka raw po ma-violate ang tinatawag na data privacy ng ating mga kababayan," he explained when asked about the idea.

(The suggestion to link the voters information with the National ID System is a good suggestion but we should remember that it was previously questioned because they said that the information in the National ID System should be limited. Therefore, if we will include other information, there might be violations of  our countrymen's data privacy.)

He then reiterated the need to continue the issuance of voter's ID as this would help in identifying voters who are duly registered in the elections.

"Sana po matuloy na natin ang pag-i-issue ng voters ID sana po magkaron na ng budget," Garcia said.

(I hope that the issuance of voters' ID will be funded.)

"Maganda po magkaroon ng voters ID. Minsan po wala tayong ibang ID pero ang Voters ID ay valid ID na ini-issue ng Comelec," he added.

(It is good to continue the issuance of voter's IDs because sometimes we could not get other valid IDs from other government agencies. We could use the voter's ID issued by the Comelec instead.)

Furthermore, the poll commissioner advised individuals who have voted in the recent elections, but their registration in the online precinct finder showed that their status was deactivated, to go to the local Comelec offices to fix their registration ahead of the May 9 polls. — RSJ, GMA News