REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS
Intramuros, Manila

CLEANSING OF THE LISTS OF Chairman Jose A. RJMelo

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VOTERS THROUGH THE Commissioner Rene V. Sarmie o
AUTOMATED FINGERPRINT Commissioner Nicodemo T. Fe er
IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM (AFIS) Commissioner Lucenito N. T
X - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -x
-- Commissioner Armando C. V
Commissioner Elias R. Y U S ~

WHEREAS, the Project Management Office's Technical Group for the

Computerized Voters List Cleansing Project headed by MS. Jeannie V. Flororita, Acting
Director IV, Information Technology Department, reported that as of January 10,
2010, ten million eight hundred eighty thousand one hundred seventy (10,880,170) ,
registration records with biometrics data have been AFIS processed in the
ARMM, NCR, Regions I11 and IV. These generated three hundred fifteen thousand
three hundred seven (315,307) fingerprint matches which are undergoing initial
verification;

WHEREAS, in the following areas, the fingerprint matches scored 9999, which
findings were further verified by fingerprint examiners from the Voters Identif~ation
Division-Election Records and Statistics Department. Therefore, identical records
were established beyond doubt found in different cities/municipalities or within the
same cities/mtlnicipalities, data summarized by province to wit:

WHEREAS, the premise of a credible elections is basically anchored in a clean

voters' list. Based on its statutory mandate, Section 52 (i) of the Omnibus Election
Code authorizes the Commission to prescribe the use or adoption of the latest
technological and electronic devices, which in this case is the AFIS technology in
pursuit of its equally important mandate to establish clean, complete, updated and
permanent lists of voters pursuant to Republic Act. No. 8189. Further, it is also
settled that there is no denial of right of suffrage when original or subsequent
registration record is declared null because one registration will remain valid and
subsisting. This is in accordance with the universal principle of "ONE MAN ONE
VOTE";
WHEREAS, the matter of double/multiple registrants had already been
addressed in various Comelec Resolytions, the latest of which are: (1) Min. Res. No.
05-1184 dated 18 October 2005, authorizing the Election Officers to delete double.
entries pertaining to one and the same voter resulting from encoding error; (2) Min.
Res. No. 06-1371 dated 11 December 2006, dealing amoog other matters on the
cleansing of double/multiple records; (3) Min. Res. No. 09-0696, which approved that
Resolution No. 7893 shall be the policy to be observed on the issue of double/multiple
registration; (4) Min. Res. No.09-0579 dated September 8, 2009, IN THE MAlTER OF
THE RECOMMENDATIONS ON CVL CLEANSING PROJECT; (5) Resolution No. 8791
dated March 10, 2010, IN THE MAlTER OF THE ABATEMENT OF PREVIOUS OR
SUBSEQUENT REGISTRATION RECORDS OF VOTERS FOUND TO HAVE REGISTERED
MORE THAN ONCE; and, (6) Resolution No. 8817 dated April 5, 2010, ADDITIONAL
INSTRUCTIONS TO THE ELECTION OFFICERS IN THE MAlTER OF THE ABATEMENT
OF PREVIOUS OR SUBSEQUENT REGISTRATION RECORDS OF VOTERS FOUND TO
HAVE REGISTERED MORE THAN ONCE.
WHEREAS, notably the Supreme Court in its Decision in the case "Jamela Salic
Maruhom versus Commission on Eledions and Mohammadali "Mericano" A. Abinal"
with G.R. No.179430 dated July 27, 2009 upheld that:
,
""Given Maruhom's double registration in Marawi and Marantao, then
COMELEC should determine which registration was valid and which one was null.
COMELEC could not consider both registration valid because it would then give rise .
to the anomalous situation where Maruhom could vote in two precincts at the same
time. mis would be a dangerous precedent that would open the floodgates to
massive election cheating and fkaud This was precisely the situation that the
COMELEC intended to address when it issued its Minute Resolution No. 00-1513 on 25
July 2000, seven years prior to the 14 May 2007 elections in which Maruham intended
to run, To foster honesty and credibility in the regisl-ration .of voters, so as to avoid
the padding of vote registration, COMELEC laid down the rule in Minufe Resolution
No. 00-1513 that while the first regiisration of any voter zubsists, any subsequent
registration thereto is void ab initio. "

NOW, THEREFORE, the Commission on Elections, by virtue of the power

vested in it by the Constitution, the Omnibus Election Code, other election laws and
jurisprudence, has RESOLVED, as it hereby RESOLVES, to adopt the following
policies and guidelines relative to the Automated Fingerprints Identification System
(AFIS) cleansing of the lists of voters:

1. To abate the other registration records of voters found to have

double or multiple registration records pursuant to the policy
reinstated in Comelec Minute Resolution No. 09-0696 dated October
20; 2009, quoted as follows:
" In all cases where registrants are hun? to be registered in two (2)
or more districts/cities municipalits. the latest registration shall
prevail which is deemed to be more in consonance with then intent -

of the concerned registered voters. Accordingv, they shall be

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 allowed to vote only in the dist~cZ/ciiy/rnunic@ality
of their latest
registratjon.

This is disfinguished from the policy on double/mu/t@leregistrants

tbund within the same distriWciiy/municipa/ity where Meir original
regiistation .shallprevail. ''

2. To direct the Board of Election Inspectors not to allow these voters

to vote in their respective ljrecincts in the May 10, 2010 elections;

3. To direct all Election Officers to manually cross out from the Election
Day Computerized Voters Lists (EDCVLs), Posted Computerized
Voters Lists (PCVLs), and the Supplemental Lists of Voters, if any,
the names of voters whose registration records have been abated,
and to indicate on top of. the crossed-out name, the following'
. annotation: 'PER RESOLUTION NO. 8791" followed by the signature
of the Election Officer;
I

4. To delete the registration records of said voters in the next Election

Registration Board (ERB) hearings.

5. To direct the Education and Information Department (EID) of the

Commission on Elections to cause the publication of this Resolution
in two (2) daily newspapers of .general circulations in the Philippines,
and give it the widest dissemination; and

6. To' direct the Election and Barangay Affairs Department .in

coordination with the Information Technology Department (ITD) to
implement this Resolution.

SO ORDERED.

&G~$o omm missioner