Not All Restored Overseas Voters Will Have Ballots

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has decided to reinstate the hundreds of thousands of overseas Filipinos whose registration as voters it earlier deactivated, but not all of them will be allocated ballots when voting period runs from April 13 to May 13, reports Rappler.com. Comelec Resolution 9653--the same resolution that restored 238,557 overseas absentee voters (OAV) to the voters' list--resolved that only 20 percent of these voters will be allocated ballots. Only some 47,000 ballots will be printed for the 238,557 reinstated overseas voters because not all of these reinstated overseas voters to actually vote this year. Their registration was deactivated after they failed to vote in the 2007 and 2010 elections--grounds provided in the election code--  prompting Filipino groups based abroad to lobby the Comelec to reconsider.