Garcia: brgy certificates have been ‘weaponized’ by pols
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is asking Congress to pass a law that would eliminate barangay certificates as proof of residency when voters register as new voters or transfer their voter registration to another locality.
According to Comelec chair George Garcia, these barangay certificates were being “weaponized” to register individuals without actual and real domicile or residence, and were used in politics to employ flying voters in different parts of the country.
“We really see no problem if a voter wants to transfer his voter registration from one place to another. What we are taking issue with is the reckless and without regard issuance of barangay certificates. This leads to mass migration of voters even in areas without much economic activity — which we really find suspicious,” he said in an interview on dzBB on Sunday.
Garcia said that under the law and Supreme Court jurisprudence, the Comelec has no discretion to refuse an individual’s registration if a barangay certificate is provided in lieu of government-issued identification cards.
“We really find it impossible that thousands of individuals cannot present any identification documents to prove (their) residency, but only a barangay certificate,” he added.
Garcia reported that a Comelec task force is investigating nine places where there is a suspicious increase of up to 40 percent in registered voters, both new and transferees, for the upcoming midterm elections.
Threat to the credibility of the polls
To stop this practice, Garcia said on Friday that Comelec would file criminal and administrative cases against barangay chairpersons found to be erroneously issuing barangay certificates amid the influx of voter registration in some areas ahead of the May 2025 elections.
“If we will not stop it now, then it may be repeated in the next elections. We have to end it now,” he stressed. “This is a threat to the credibility of the upcoming polls.”
The Comelec chief said its Law Department would issue subpoenas against barangay officials from Cagayan de Oro and Makati cities, where massive voter transfers were monitored.
In a briefing on Friday, the Comelec task force said its investigation showed 4,308 voters applied for transfer from Embo barangays — which is now under Taguig City — to the first district of Makati.
Of these, 83 percent or 3,596 individuals used barangay certifications as proof of identification and residence.
On the other hand, of the 14,954 voters who want to transfer their records to Makati’s second district, 93 percent or 13,918 used barangay certificates.
Meanwhile, the Comelec found that the number of registered voters in Barangay Carmen in Cagayan de Oro soared by 44 percent to 56,837 in November from just 32,218 in October last year. Of the new voters, 38 percent (8,218) registered using barangay certificates.
On Nov. 27, Comelec filed a disqualification case against incumbent Barangay Carmen chair Raineir Joaquin “Kikang” Uy for allegedly issuing over 8,000 barangay certificates.
According to the poll body’s law department, Uy “willfully and maliciously employed the fraudulent scheme of issuing barangay certifications even to non-residents of Barangay Carmen to influence and induce them to register as voters in the said barangay, to purposely give due advantage to his candidacy for the 2025 (elections).”
