MANILA, Philippines – A total of 238,557 registered overseas absentee voters may see their voter registrations deactivated after failing to vote in the 2007 and 2010 national elections.
This is unless they file a manifestation of intent to vote in the mid-term elections next year.
Citing existing regulations and law, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc issued Resolution 9567 on December 4, 2012 to require these voters to file manifestations of intent to vote in the May 2013 elections by December 21, 2012 with the Philippine diplomatic posts covering their places of residence.
The same resolution encouraged all overseas voters to check the status of their registration at the Comelec website and make the necessary manifestation.
Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes and Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, however, explained that the poll body will amend this resolution to extend the deadline from the 21st of December to the 1st week of January 2013.
Both officials also cited the need to clarify the resolution to mean deactivation of registration instead of delisting.
Resolution 9567 originally said that these voters "who failed to vote during the 2007 and 2010 national elections should now be removed or deleted from the NROAV."
The poll body acted on the recommendation of Commissioner Lucenito Tagle who chairs the committee on overseas voting.
Aside from filing with the diplomatic posts, affected voters may also file their manifestations through the Comelec website or through fax at the Comelec main office in Manila.