The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has deactivated the registration records of close to a million voters in the National Capital Region (NCR), says Regional Election Director Atty. Michael Dioneda. "The Election Officers, together with the members of the Election Registration Board have deactivated 974, 145 registered voters (in the National Capital Region). This figure represents the number of registered voters who failed to vote in the last two elections and because of that they would be removed from the active list," Dioneda said. The NCR elections chief said that of the total number of deactivated voters, 246,288 came from Quezon City; 245,437 from Manila; 106,664 from Caloocan; 98,327 from Pasig and 67,443 from Makati. Aside from those who failed to vote during the May 2007 midterm elections and in the October 2007 Barangay and SK elections, Dioneda added that they are also removing the names of dead voters and that this is done in close coordination with the civil registry offices of local government units. COMELEC spokesman James Jimenez, for his part, reiterated that deactivation is part of the poll body's efforts to clean the voters list. He advised the deactivated voters who'll be immediately notified by mail, to apply for reactivation of their registration records in their local COMELEC offices before the December 15, 2009 deadline. ###