Around 7 million voter accounts deactivated — Comelec

MANILA, Philippines — Around seven million voters had their accounts deactivated at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) due to non-participation in two consecutive elections or other reasons, Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said Wednesday.

Guanzon said that of the seven million voters with deleted accounts, only around 700,000 individuals have reactivated their records at the Comelec.

“‘Yung mga nadelete na, dahil hindi nakaboto sa last two elections or nadead na or they went to other countries and changed their citizenship, mga seven million ‘yun, pero 700,000 lang ang bumalik at nagparehistro,” she said over ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.

(There are around seven million voters whose accounts were deleted because they did not vote in the last two elections, or they were dead or have gone to other countries and changed their citizenship. But only 700,000 have returned to Comelec offices and registered again.)

“‘Yung mga nadelete na, deactivated, ‘yun ang mga hindi bumoto sa dalawang magkasunod na eleksyon, so kung may agwat naman ‘yung hindi ka bumoto, nandyan ka pa sa system,” she added.

(Those who had their accounts deleted or deactivated are those who did not vote for the last two consecutive elections, but if there is an interval in your non-participation in the elections, your records are still in the system.)

The Comelec is eyeing to have four million new voters for the elections next year.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez earlier said there are about 1.3 million voter applications so far for the upcoming polls. He said the September 30 deadline for voter registration may not be extended since the filing of certificates of candidacy would already start in October.

EDV