Cavite barangay chair challenges voter registration of 400 people

A Cavite barangay chairperson challenged before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) the application for voter registration of around 400 applicants, saying that they are not legitimate residents of the area.

Azenith Paredes, incumbent chairperson of Barangay 25, Cavite City, filed her opposition to register the applications before the Election Registration Board of Cavite City last February 24.

“Ang dagsaang paglipat sa ating barangay ng mga bagong aplikante sa registration (na ang bilang ay umaabot sa kulang-kulang 400 kung saan ito ay mahigit pa sa kasalukuyang registered voter sa ating barangay) ay malinaw na isang tangka upang alisan ng lakas sa halalan ang mga lehitimong residente ng ating barangay,” Paredes said in a statement.

(The influx of new registration applicants in our barangay whose number reaches around 400, which is more than the current registered voter in our barangay, is clearly an attempt to disempower the legitimate voters.)

Paredes said she also submitted sworn statements of owners and caretakers of the properties that were mentioned by the applicants as their residence when they filed their application for voter registration.

The barangay chairperson said she also submitted the updated list of inhabitants of the Office of the Secretary, where the names of the applicants are not indicated.

“Ito ay ating matapang na lalabanan. Ito ay hindi laban ng isang tao lamang. Ito ay laban ng lahat ng mga lehitimong residente ng ating barangay,” she added.

(This is our fight. It's not against just one person. This is the fight of all legitimate residents of our barangay.)

The Election Registration Board of Cavite City started conducting hearings on Monday, March 6 on the said applications.

“Nagcontinue hearings pa po kami, hanggang Friday po (We will continue to conduct hearings until Friday),” Marlon Francisco of Election Registration Board of Cavite City told GMA News Online.

He also said that there is no decision yet on the said applications.

GMA News Online also sought comment to Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco regarding the issue but has yet to respond as of this posting.

As of January 28, the Comelec said there are 2,076,491 who have processed their registration  through the regular process, while 8,651 registered through the Registration Anywhere Project.

The latest figures bring the total number of registrants to 2,085,142 for the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections. Of this, 1,243,822 are new registrants. —Richa Noriega/ VAL, GMA Integrated News