Disqualification case filed vs Cagayan de Oro congressional aspirant
THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) filed a disqualification case against a congressional aspirant in Cagayan de Oro City over alleged involvement in irregular voter registrations.
The poll body accused the political aspirant responsible for a 44.41% voter registration hike in a village due to his issuance of a village certification.
The village only had 39,359 registered voters on Oct. 30, 2023, which increased to 56,837, as of Nov. 11.
Out of the 21,854 voter applicants, 37.6% used the certification issued by the respondent, who charged a P50 fee per applicant, Comelec said.
“From Respondent’s own statement, he does not always verify, by actually calling either a person in the area or the zone leader who issued the zone clearance, whether the applicants in fact reside in [the village] or in the address as claimed by them,” the 16-page complaint, filed on Tuesday, read.
The aspirant is gunning for a House of Representatives seat to represent the 1st District of Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental.
“Respondent willfully and maliciously employed the fraudulent scheme of issuing barangay certifications even to non-residents of [the village] to influence and induce them to register as voters in the said [village], to purposely give due advantage to his candidacy for the 2025 [National and Local Elections] and [the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections].”
The 2025 polls are set for May 12, 2025. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana
