1,514 NBP prisoners taking part in village polls for the 1st time
This year, Barangay (village) Poblacion in Muntinlupa City is getting a huge number of new voters—prisoners at the national penitentiary, which is within its jurisdiction.
For the first time ever, inmates at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) will get to pick their local leaders in Monday’s barangay elections.
A total of 1,514 inmates earlier registered as voters with the Commission on Elections (Comelec)—1,406 from the maximum security compound and 108 from the medium security compound, according to NBP Superintendent Venancio Tesoro.
The move is in line with Comelec Resolution No. 9371 issued in March 2012 which states that detainees are entitled to vote if their cases are still on appeal.
For Bureau of Corrections-run prisons such as the NBP, the resolution was first implemented during the senatorial and local elections in May.
The poll body first set up special polling places in jails during the 2010 elections when detainees in local prisons under the supervision of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) were first allowed to vote.
Data from the Comelec office in Muntinlupa showed that in addition to the 1,514 NBP inmates, Barangay Poblacion also has 53 BJMP detainees who will be casting their votes.
It likewise showed that although there were 52,909 regular voters in the barangay, a check with the Comelec website showed that in 2010, the incumbent chair won with just 8,145 votes.
Perhaps aware that the “prison vote” could sway things in their favor, two candidates vying for barangay chair and at least six candidates for councilor campaigned inside the prison facility, Tesoro said.
Asked what power the new barangay officials would have over their “constituents” at the NBP, Tesoro said it would not be over the inmates but their families who live in the NBP reservation.
He said that 60 percent of the inmates have relatives that regularly visit them, some choosing to stay in the NBP reservation.
