Dogma prevents Surigao voters from registering

By BEN SERRANO

CorrespondentBUTUAN City––This is a clear case of how religious beliefs sometimes prevent citizens from doing what most people think is the right thing.

Over 300 voters in a Surigao del Sur village would likely lose their right to vote in the 2016 elections because they have refused to undergo biometric registration at the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Reason: they associate biometric records and the ongoing computerized registration of voters with “666” or the “Mark of the Beast” in the Book of Revelation.

Surigao del Sur provincial elections supervisor Ernie Palanan said members of the religious group called “Body of Christ” were taught by The Rev. Nilo Rolloque that computer-aided biometrics registration would pave the way for the rule of the “Anti-Christ” which was supposedly foretold in the last book of the New Testament. Palanan said Rolloque’s teaching has been embraced by many villagers of Hamburger Hill in Barangay Gatain, San Agustin town in Surigao del Sur.

San Agustin town elections officer Evelyn Bato said there were at least 340 voters in Hamburger Hill who have opted not to register with the Comelec because the ongoing computer-aided registration was against their religious beliefs. Rolloque has reportedly been teaching his followers not to have eye contact with computer-linked camera lenses in order to avoid receiving the “Mark of the Beast.”

The “Beast,” based on Rolloque’s teachings, represents a worldwide political system that would rule over “every tribe and people and tongue and nation” as supposedly foretold in the Book of Revelation. Surigao del Sur Vice Gov. Manuel Alameda said there was nothing the government could do about religious beliefs. Alameda said he encountered similar problems with another sect called “Son of God” when he was mayor of San Agustin. He said members of the group refused to receive vaccines from the Department of Health, and health care coverage from Philhealth, and anything that requires their photographs like driving licenses.

Alameda said he tried to talk the villagers into registering with the Comelec, and secure government identification cards “but they insisted on their faith.”