Comelec-Bacolod hits back over super spreader claim

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“YOU don’t have proof.”

This was the response of Bacolod City Election Officer lawyer Kathrina Trinio-Caña to the statement of Emergency Operations Center Executive Director Em Ang alleging that there was a sudden influx of voter registrants from other towns and cities in Negros Occidental.

Ang, also the city administrator, claimed that she received information that there were many of these voter applicants who are reportedly arriving at the satellite registration sites like the University of St. La Salle (USLS)-Bacolod and Ayala Malls Capitol Central onboard trucks, buses and ambulances.

Trinio-Caña said those could be just a coincidence and that they do not have any evidence that those people alighted from the vehicles and process the transfer of their voter’s registration.

She stressed that they are strict as far as accepting applications for the transfer of voter registration is concerned.

She said not all of those who are lining up in the queue at the registration sites are transferees.

In the last three days that the Comelec was holding the voter registration at the USLS-Bacolod, the Comelec was able to accept 2,075 voter applications.

However, only 455 of them are transferees while 1,283 are new registrants and the remaining others are for correction of entries, Trinio-Caña said.

Trinio-Caña stressed that not all of these registrants are from other towns and cities of the province because many came from the National Capital Region and Cebu, who have returned home because of the pandemic.

The lawyer also answered the allegation of Ang calling the Comelec registration a coronavirus disease (Covid-19) super spreader event.

Caña said they should not be blamed because there could be other factors that triggered the spike of Covid-19 cases in Bacolod City.

Ang earlier wrote a letter to Caña asking her for the possibility of suspending the voter registration.

Caña, in reply, said it is impossible to do so because they are mandated by law to conduct the registration.

She said they always ensure that health protocols at the voter registration sites are followed.

The Comelec always coordinates with the police, the Task Force Disiplina and the city legal office for crowd control, the official said.

Trinio-Caña lamented that the pictures and videos circulating over social media showing that the registrants were not in order could have been taken after they were sent home because they exceeded the 500 daily quotas.

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