The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has deactivated around 9,000 voters from Dumaguete City for failure to vote in two succeeding elections.

But these voters can be reactivated once they present themselves at the Comelec for registration, according to lawyer Ian Macaraya, city election officer, during the launch of the agency’s five-day Register Anywhere Program (RAP) at Silliman University (SU) in the capital city yesterday.

Macaraya said they hoped to recover the 9,000 deactivated voters during the RAP which was principally aimed at reaching as many students as possible to sign up for the 2025 polls.

“We are targeting students and other persons of voting age to avail of the services we are offering both for RAP and regular voters’ registration,” he said.

Macaraya said many students at SU and other schools in the capital city are not actually from here and usually fail to register due to time constraints and other factors.

Aeriana Julia Kadusale, 18, a business administration student, thanked the Comelec for the RAP which allowed her to register for the May 2025 midterm polls, even if she is not from Dumaguete.

Kadusale, a first-time voter who lives in Barangay Salag, Siaton town, about an hour’s drive from this capital, said she could not find the time to return home to register as a voter due to the demands at school.

Meanwhile, around 3,000 voters from Poblacion Barangays 1, 2, 3, and 4 in Dumaguete will be transferred to a new voting center following the relocation of the City Central School to the former Catherina Cittadini-St Louis School.

Macaraya said his office will release the newly assigned voting centers in the coming weeks. (PNA)