Tags: Crime and Punishment, Elections
By Pau Padre
MANILA CITY, METRO MANILA —For the first time in Philippine history, Filipino inmates or detainees will be casting their votes on who they pick as the country’s next president.
A total of 23,657 inmates in 414 detainee facilities of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) would be given the chance to participate in the forthcoming May 10 elections, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
While that number may not matter much in deciding who gets to be the next president, it will be more crucial in deciding who wins in the local elections – mayors, Sangguniang Bayan members and district representatives, for example – because the latter positions are usually decided by a slim margin, from just 10 to a hundred votes.
“The vote of prisoners on May 10 will decide the results for local candidates, especially in areas where there are a significant number of registered detainees,” says Comelec commissioner Rene Sarmiento, who is heading the committee on detainee voting.
In the Manila City Jail alone, there are 800 registered voters while 400 voters were registered respectively psectively in Quezon City and Pasig. In an interview, Leah, a detainee in Manila City Jail, says she and her inmates are excited to vote and elect the country’s next leaders.
“Masaya po kami na may ganito kasi ibig sabihin iginagalang nila ang karapatan namin kahit sa ngayon nandito kami sa piitan (We are happy that they are respecting our right to vote even though we are detained),” she says.
Pasig City Jail detainees Diosdado Velenzuela and Dong Padernal also are likewise excited to vote on May 10.
As stated in this Comelec resolution, those eligible to vote are detainees who are serving a sentence for less than a year, whose cases are still being heard in court, or who have been convicted but are currently on appeal. The resolution likewise states that special polling precincts will be set up inside or near places of detention.
There has been clamor to allow inmates to exercise their right to vote since about a year ago. The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) identifies detainees alongside the disabled, indigenous people, the elderly and displaced individuals as most vulnerable of being stripped away of their right to vote due to government inaction.
The Comelec and prison authorities have been working together to educate detainees on how to vote in what promises to be the country’s first automated polls. Even though segregated from the rest of society, their voices (and choices) deserve to be heard.
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