Comelec to stop voter deactivation

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will stop the deactivation of voters who failed to take part in the midterm and Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in 2007.

The commission’s Election Registration Board (ERB) decided to stop the disenfranchisement of registrants on the recommendation of the Election and Barangay Affairs Division (EBAD).

In a memorandum dated Sept. 8, 2009, EBAD director Teopisto Elnas said deactivated voters would not be able to reactivate their registration in time for the Oct. 31 deadline of voter registration for the May 2010 national elections.

Citing the Election Officers’ Quarterly Progress Reports, he said there are still field offices that have backlogs in reactivation proceedings up to July 2009.

The Comelec has deactivated 5,606,964 voters. Of this number, 5,603,154 were deactivated for failure to participate in the 2007 elections; 1,665 because of renouncement of Filipino citizenship; 1,071 because of court exclusion; 947 because of incarceration for no less than one year; 115 for commission of crime of disloyalty to the Philippine government; and 12 for insanity or incompetence.

The region of Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) has the highest number of registrants at 6,059,168 followed by Metro Manila with 5,347,646 and Central Luzon with 5,098,495.

The Cordillera Autonomous Region has the lowest number of registrants with only 809,979.

There are now 45.4 million registered voters, 2.6 million of which are new voters. The Comelec expects voter registration to reach 48 million.