.2 M Ecijanos may lose right to vote in 2016

CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines – More than 200,000 registered voters in Nueva Ecija may lose their right to vote in the 2016 elections for their failure to update their records with the Commission on Elections (Comelec), an official said yesterday.

Panfilo Doctor Jr., provincial election supervisor, said a total of 213,141 registered voters are still without or have incomplete biometrics data.

Doctor said the figure represents roughly 15 percent of the total number of registered voters of more than 1.3 million.

Of the 213,141 voters without biometrics, 63,116 or 27 percent are from this city.

Aside from this city, other areas with large number of registered voters without or have incomplete biometrics are San Jose City (21,541), Talavera (15,418), Guimba (11,188) and Gapan City (10,100).

Leo Navarro, city election officer, said only 165,075 voters have biometrics data. He said a massive information campaign in the city’s 89 barangays had been launched.

The mandatory biometrics registration of voters is provided under Republic Act 10367 signed by President Aquino in February last year.