05/04/2025
NEWS UPDATE: Citizens of Palompon, Leyte have formally filed complaints and petitions with the Commission on Elections Region VIII for the removal from the municipality’s voters' list of at least 1,021 voters who, according to them, have been confirmed dead.
The citizens, who are from the town’s 43 barangays, said the deaths of the said deceased voters were confirmed through affidavits of community members and/or certifications from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
In a letter to Atty. Maria Corazon S. Montallana, Acting Assistant Regional Election Director of COMELEC Region VIII, dated February 17, 2025, aside from their request to cancel the registrations of 1,021 deceased individuals, they also stated other anomalies, such as the registration of non-resident voters, double registrations, and cancellation of valid voters.
This was not the first attempt to remove dead voters from the voters' list of Palompon. Earlier, 10 election cases were also filed with the Municipal Trial Court of Palompon on February 3, 2025, for the exclusion of dead voters from the voters' list but were dismissed the next day by Judge Delia P. Noel-Bertulfo due to technical reasons, particularly their compliance with the submission deadline. Motions for reconsideration were filed immediately but were soon after denied.
| via DPP and Lucky Malicay
