MANILA – For the first time ever, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will put up special polling precincts in jails and other detention centers to enable inmates to vote in the coming May 10 polls, a ranking Comelec official announced.
But Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said these precincts would be set up only in jails where there are 100 or more detainees, which would be manned by members of the special board of election inspectors.
For detention facilities which contain less, their officials should ask the lower courts to allow their inmates, who are eligible to vote, to cast their ballots in regular polling precincts located outside under police escorts, Sarmiento said.
“By doing so, we will be able to uphold the rights of the inmates to suffrage or the right to vote,†Sarmiento emphasized.
The Comelec official said this would be the first time that inmates would be allowed to vote and this coincides with the first-ever attempt to conduct automated polls on May 10 to wean the country away from its outmoded and ancient mode of manual voting and counting of ballots.
However, Sarmiento pointed out that only inmates whose cases are still pending in the courts would be allowed to vote in May.
Data from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology showed that there are about 50,000 detainees awaiting trial across the country.
The same data, however, also showed that close to 24,000 of these inmates have registered and were allowed to vote in the coming elections.
Of the total, about 13,000 are detained in various jails in Metro Manila, composed of 5 cities and one town, according to the bureau.
Sarmiento said the Comelec earlier approved a resolution allowing the inmates to vote as strongly suggested by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
CHR Commissioner Leila de Lima pointed out that while the Omnibus Election Code prohibits the setting up of polling precincts “within prison compounds,†the term could be interpreted as referring only to facilities housing inmates who are already serving prison terms following their conviction by the courts.
Besides, De Lima noted the Comelec set a precedent when it sent election officers to the resthouse of ousted president Joseph Estrada in the upland town of Tanay, Rizal province in Southern Luzon to allow him to vote in the May 2007 polls.
At that time, Estrada was under house arrest while undergoing trial before the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court for plunder.
Moreover, De Lima said the Comelec likewise sent election officers to a military camp in the town of Santa Rosa, Laguna province in Southern Luzon where Nur Misuari, the founder of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and his other co-accused were detained while awaiting trial for rebellion.
Comelec’s Sarmiento agreed with De Lima as he stressed that the civil rights of inmates, including the right to vote, are not yet suspended unless they have been convicted by the courts.
Sarmiento also explained the Comelec decided to bring the polling precincts to jails instead due to the problems to be encountered when inmates would be allowed to vote outside even in the company of police escorts.
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