Taguig Vice Mayor George A. Elias on Wednesday filed administrative cases against five Commission on Elections officials for their failure to provide the city with a clean list of registered voters that he said casts doubts on the integrity of the city’s voter database.

Elias, together with Barangay Chairman Danilo Rivera of Western Bicutan and former Taguig Vice Mayor Nicanor Garcia, sought the immediate relief of Taguig Election Officer Marcos Arcadio Lauron, local election office employees Faisal Samundi, Melanie Icaro and Yolanda Bajar, and Comelec-National Capital Region Director IV Michael Dioneda.

The complainants cited the Comelec officials for violations of the Omnibus Election Code, the Revised Penal Code and Republic Act 6713, gross misconduct, gross neglect of duty, and inefficiency and incompetence.

In a complaint filed with the Comelec head office in Intramuros, Elias cited the respondents’ failure to release Taguig’s Certified Voter’s List (CVL) and Project of Precincts (POP).

“The anomalies consist of failure in the release of the CVL, and the systematic failure to respond to request for issuance of voter’s certification. Unless the city’s voters’ database is cleansed, we fear that legitimate voters will be disenfranchised and may be substituted with illegitimate names,” Elias said.

He noted that the local Comelec office has failed to take action on official requests for a “delisted” voter’s list. He cited the case of former Vice Mayor Garcia who wrote a letter to Lauron dated 10 December 2009 requesting for a list of deactivated and deceased voters.

To date, Lauron has yet to respond to the request despite the lapse of the 15-day reply period prescribed in Republic Act 6713.

“Instead of accelerating the completion of the CVL, so it appears, respondents Lauron, Samundi, Icaro and Bajar have resorted to a systematic pattern of delay,” the complaint said.

The complaint also alleged that Lauron, with help from Samundi, Icaro and Bajar, executed irregular acts in excluding qualified and properly documented voters from the Comelec data base, while including persons whose applications are not properly documented or have no record of applications on file.

“In complete disregard and violation of the law and the resolutions, respondent Lauron, without the benefit of a board deliberation and in the absence of the other two members of the ERB, approved at least 14 applications which are without proper voter’s identifications and documentary attachments,” the complaint stated.

Elias also said they have received reports that there are many double or multiple entries in the Comelec data base for Taguig in the approved applicants for registration from December 2, 2008 to November 2009.

“Said multiple entries should be expunged as soon as possible… Until the multiple entries are cleansed and the respondents are relieved of their assignment in the Taguig City Comelec Office, the opportunity to replace multiple irregular entries with new names whose claimants would eventually vote as flying voters becomes a distinct possibility,” the complaint said.