36,000 voters to be removed from lists

By LITO RULONA
Correspondent

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday said some 36,000 voters in Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental are facing the prospects of being removed from its lists for not showing up for biometrics registration.

Lawyer Carlito Ravelo, Comelec provincial officer, said they were looking at around 21,000 voters in Cagayan de Oro, and another 15,000 in Misamis Oriental.

Ravelo told reports during the Mediakonek program at the Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC) that the 36,000 are among the 150,000 voters in Region 10 who have not yet submitted themselves for biometrics registration.

The biometrics registration has been resorted to by the Comelec to rid its lists of “flying voters” and double registrants. Through fingerprinting, it would be easier for Comelec to identify and locate erring voters.

He said the voters have until October to beat the Comelec deadline, and those who fail would not be able to vote in next year’s national and local elections.

The election period officially starts the same month. Ravelo said the start of the election period could only be moved from October, this year, to January 2016 if the Comelec decides to revert to manual elections.

“This is a national deadline. Wala pa’y extension ani,” said Ravelo.

He said the Comelec has started doing the rounds in the barangays to locate those concerned, and in the hope of making it easier for the voters who have not yet reegistered to comply with the biometrics requirement.

“We already gave names and notices to the barangays but still, we are seeing low turnouts. Kung dili gyud ma-locate og dili gyud magpa-register og balik, mapugos kami to delete them from records,” Ravelo said.

The Comelec has registered some 2,391,706 voters in northern Mindanao as of April 20, this year.

Bukidnon has so far registered the most number of voters at 716,696 while Camiguin the smallest voting population at only 54,445.

As of April, Misamis Oriental registered the second highest number of voters at 506,342, followed by Misamis Occidental, 341,233; Lanao del Norte, 331,929; Cagayan de Oro, 287,307; and Iligan City, 153,754.