Comelec will go to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

MANILA, Philippines—If former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo cannot go to the Commission on Elections to update her voter registration record, the Comelec will go to her at her place of detention.

Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said the Comelec would comply with a Pasay City court order to bring a voter registration machine to Arroyo’s room at Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City.

“A petition (from Arroyo) has to be filed so we can respond. The Comelec has been giving detainees a chance to register and vote,” said Sarmiento in an interview.

Last week, the Pasay Regional Trial Court, citing security reasons, junked Arroyo’s petition to be allowed to go to her hometown in Pampanga to update her voter records.