NEW VOTERS. A Commission on Elections (Comelec) staff member helps students as they register as voters for the first time, during the 2024 Voter Education and Registration Fair at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila on March 14, 2024. The Comelec on Tuesday (May 21) said it would continue to encourage qualified Filipinos to sign up as voters even as it reached its target of 3 million voter registrants for the 2025 midterm polls. (PNA file photo by Yancy Lim)
MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday vowed to ramp up voter registration activities for qualified Filipinos even as it breached its target of 3 million new voters for the 2025 midterm polls.
"(We will) proceed until the very end. What is important is the assurance that they are able to vote. A vote not cast is a voice not heard," Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia said in a phone interview.
Based on Comelec's latest data, around 3,020,999 registrants to become voters as of Monday, more than three months since the start of voter registration on Feb. 12.
Of the number, Calabarzon topped the number of applicants with 541,724; followed by the National Capital Region with 440,857; Central Luzon with 349,926; and Central Visayas with 205,784.
Other regions with a high number of applicants are Davao Region with 171,101; Western Visayas, 164,036; Northern Mindanao, 148,276; Bicol Region, 133,039; Soccsksargen, 126,463; Zamboanga Peninsula, 118,972; Ilocos Region, 116,584; Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), 108,261, and Eastern Visayas, 107,266.
The regions with the lowest number of registrants are Caraga, 77,348; Mimaropa, 75,673; and the Cordillera Administrative Region, 39,059.
The voter sign-up runs until Sept. 30.
Garcia, meanwhile, called on the 4.2 million deactivated voters to reactivate their registration status.
“Pwede kayo pumunta sa mga registration site natin, mag fill-up ng application for reactivation. Sadyang napakalaki nung 4.2 million parang di katanggap tanggap. Wala na kailangan i-present. Technically may record na sila sa amin eh. (You can come to our registration sites to fill up application for reactivation. The 4.2 million figure is so big and is unacceptable. No need to present anything. Technically, they already have a record with us),” he said.
Most of the deactivated voters are those who failed to vote in two consecutive regular elections, according to Comelec. (PNA)
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