San Juan mayor denies 30,000 ‘flying voters’
Metro Manila, Philippines – San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora strongly denied claims of over 30,000 flying voters in his locality, urging a senator to show proof and seek their exclusion.
“Kung totoong merong 30,000 flying voters, anong mga pangalan nila, saan sila nakatira? Hinahamon ko siya. Hinahamon ko kayo, Senator Jinggoy Estrada, magfile kayo ng exclusion sa korte,” Zamora said in a press conference on Thursday, Nov. 21.
[Translation: If there are indeed 30,000 flying voters, what are their names, where do they live? I challenge him. I challenge you, Senator Jinggoy Estrada, to file for their exclusion in court.] NewsWatch Plus has sought Estrada’s comment.
During Monday's Senate deliberations on the Commission on Elections' 2025 budget, Estrada flagged the significant rise in the number of registered voters in San Juan since the 2016 general elections, citing a 32.13% increase to 109,640 voters in the 2022 polls, or more than 30,000 individuals.
Estrada alleged that these were flying voters intended to secure Zamora’s election victory.
The Estrada family had long ruled San Juan until Zamora’s election in 2019.
“Gumising na po kayo sa katotohanan, hindi na po Estrada country ang San Juan… Hindi ko po kailangan ng flying voters para manalo sa San Juan (Wake up to the truth, San Juan is no longer Estrada country... I don’t need flying voters to win in San Juan),” Zamora said.
In response, Estrada said: “Hindi ito usapin kung sino sa mga Estrada at Zamora ang namamayani at umangkin na pagmamay-ari ang lungsod ng San Juan. Walang nagmamay-ari ng San Juan kundi ang mga mamamayan ng San Juan - ang mga San Juaneños (This is not an issue of who among the Estradas and Zamoras dominate or claim ownership of the city of San Juan. No one owns San Juan except its citizens—the San Juaneños).”
He said Zamora should know that the period to exclude voters in the 2022 elections has long passed, adding that a petition to annul the voters’ list in San Juan has been pending since after the polls.
“Given this petition and my revelation on the improbability of a 32.13% increment within eight years, we're requesting the Commission on Elections to act with dispatch on this matter considering the seriousness of the issue,” Estrada said.
He added that he is currently gathering data on the increase in registered voters from 2022 to 2025 to support a petition for voter exclusion in the upcoming elections.
The Comelec is investigating the surge in new and transferring voter registrations in areas such as Makati City, Cabanatuan in Nueva Ecija, and Cagayan de Oro. It said it cannot purge the voter list without court orders.
Poll chairman George Garcia warned of disqualification proceedings for candidates potentially involved in issuing barangay certifications to inflate voter numbers.
