Comelec to study DQ for Cagayan de Oro bet in registration mess

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is still determining if there was enough evidence to disqualify a political aspirant alleged to be the culprit of the irregular voter registrations in Cagayan de Oro City.

Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia made the clarification after INQUIRER.net reported on Wednesday that the poll body will disqualify the still-unidentified aspirant, who is a former village chairman.

READ: Comelec to sue culprit behind irregular registrants in Cagayan de Oro

Garcia clarified that the Comelec en banc only instructed the poll body’s law department “to study the possibility of filing a disqualification petition against the candidate motu propio if the evidence warrants.”

“This is without prejudice to the prosecution for election offenses in relation to the said irregularity,” Garcia added in a message to INQUIRER.net.

Earlier, the Comelec chief said this aspirant was behind the irregular voter registrations of over 9,000 individuals using the issuance of barangay certification.

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Currently, one of the requirements that citizens can present as an identification document to become a registered voter in a locality is a barangay identification.

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Garcia said the aspirant will face a criminal charge under the Omnibus Election Code.

EXPLAINER: Voter registration for 2025 elections