By Arlie Calalo

The Commission on Elections is bent on purging the voters’ list of multiple registrants and “flying voters” before the 2010 elections, but lack of funds is making the task difficult.

“We wish to assure the public that the Comelec is dead serious in cleaning up the voters’ list. In fact, the ongoing biometrics registration nationwide that started Dec. 2, 2008 and will run until Dec. 15 this year is part of efforts to purge the list,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said.

Jimenez said Comelec needs to acquire the Automated Fingerprint Identification System to complete the purge, but it could not do so because it lacked the funds.

Automated fingerprint identification will allow the Comelec to verify a person’s identity by cross-matching his fingerprint against the Comelec database.

But, Jimenez added, the Comelec will maximize its resources to be able to purge as much of the voters’ list as possible before the 2010 polls which will be highlighted by the election of a new president.

Jimenez said with the cooperation of civil society organizations and a vigilant citizenry, the impact of the delay in the completion of cleansing through biometrics would be kept to a minimum.

With the biometric registration that began in 2004 at the cost of P1 billion, Comelec said it could only identify at least half of the 48 million voters in the list.

Earlier, Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. chided the Comelec for its failure to complete the biometric registration.

But Pimentel hailed the Comelec for its plan to require its field officials all over the country to conduct a house-to-house counter-checking of voters.