MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will investigate the reported unusual increase of "transferring voters" through a task force in areas like Makati, Cagayan de Oro, and Nueva Ecija.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the en banc signed two resolutions on Wednesday to conduct a probe on the sudden increase of migrating voters in Cagayan de Oro and Nueva Ecija.

Comelec shuns hybrid 2025 elections proposal

Garcia said they noticed a "mass migration" of voters transferring from one municipality to another municipality within a province, and even from outside of a province.

"Okay lang naman lumipat [ng lugar] ang mga tao. Wala namang pagbabawal diyan because mayroon tayo sa Constitution na right to travel and liberty of the abode. Kaya lang, nakapagtataka kung bakit bigla na lang 40 percent increase ang bilang ng mga botante na nag-apply [lumipat] sa isang lugar. Hindi po 'yan usual," Garcia added.

(It's OK to move residences; that's not illegal because the Constitution guarantees the right to travel and liberty of the abode. But this development is puzzling because suddenly, there's a 40 percent increase in the number of voters applying to transfer to other places. That is unusual.)

The COMELEC head also shared that the initial cause they determined was the use of barangay certificates in registering voters.