The number of eligible Filipino voters has exceeded the total number of the voting population in at least seven regions, based on the estimates made by the former head of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).
In a public social media post, former NSCB Secretary General Romulo A. Virola said “overregistration” for the May 2022 polls was observed in 7 out of 17 regions nationwide.
Virola said the percentage of “overregistration” ranged from at least 1 percent in Central Visayas to at most 11 percent in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
“Obviously, something must be awfully wrong. Either the population projections of the PSA [Philippine Statistics Authority] are on the low side, or the Rappler/Comelec [Commission on Elections] voters’ list is padded,” Virola said.
However, National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa told the BusinessMirror that one explanation for the discrepancy could be that voters who are residents in places they work but vote in their province of origin.
Mapa said PSA’s Census Technical Team said there are instances when the place of residence of a person is Quezon City but his or her voting registration is in Tarlac City or vice versa.
“Place of residence is not always the same as place of [voting] registration. [But] at [the] national level, it should be more or less the same,” Mapa explained.
The BusinessMirror tried to get the side of the Comelec on the issue raised by Virola but they were unavailable for comment as of this writing.
Based on the estimates of Virola, the number of voters exceeded 100 percent of the 18-year-old Filipinos in BARMM at 110.59 percent; Caraga, 109.79 percent; Eastern Visayas, 107.7 percent; and Bicol, 105.54 percent.
The data also showed the same trend in Mimaropa Region at 103.67 percent; Ilocos Region at 101.86 percent; and Central Visayas at 101.22 percent.
“Worth noting is the fact that the three regions with the largest voting age population, namely, Region 4A, NCR [National Capital Region], and Region 3 are under-represented, by 10 percent, 12 percent, and 6 percent, respectively,” Virola said.
Virola called for greater transparency, particularly on the part of the Comelec. He said the election body should upload on its web site the latest figures on the number of registered voters for May 2022.
This list, Virola said, should be disaggregated by region and by age group in accordance with the principles of Freedom of Information.