Nearly 300,000 illegal registrants in NCR purged from list

Close to 300,000 illegal, double and multiple registrants had been weeded out from the list of registered voters in the National Capital Region (NCR). From the 5,917,287 registered voters in 2004 the current number of voters in the NCR as of March 7 was reduced to 5,691,446 or about 225,841 delisted from the voters’ registration records (VRR). Aniceta Laceda, president of the Metro Manila Elections Officers Association (MMEOA), said the number of voters removed from the list were either those who have pending exclusion case, whose registration had been deactivated or canceled, or transferees and double and multiple registrants. “The bulk of the decrease comes from those who failed twice to vote during the national elections and whose registration had been deactivated," Laceda said. Laceda added that the number is also expected to either increase or decrease once they have completed purging the list. Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos attributed the drop to relocation of voters to nearby areas like San Jose Del Monte in Bulacan, San Mateo and in Montalban. “We are now in the processing of cleansing the voters lists," Abalos told reporters during the command conference held Thursday between the Commission on Elections, the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Philippine National Police. Based on the records of the Comelec, the biggest drop was observed in Manila, Quezon City, Pasig and Pasay. In all the four district of Quezon City, from 1,186,735 in 2004 it went down to 1,040,143 while in Manila, which has six districts and a total of 1,021,176 voters in the last 2004 presidential polls, the list was reduced to 963,887 in 2007. Other areas where the voters’ lists were also trimmed include Malabon, Muntinlupa, San Juan and Taguig. On the other hand, areas that posted an increase in the number of registered voters are the two districts of Valenzuela, Pateros, Navotas, Parañaque and Marikina City. Abalos, meanwhile, clarified that no voter was disfranchise with voters’ list cleansing. He said they have already ensured that these voters particularly those that were relocated had also their registration transferred for them to exercise their right to vote in the coming mid-term polls. "We want to see to it that those relocated outside of Metro Manila would not be disfranchised," added the Comelec. - GMANews.TV