MANILA, Philippines—The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has decided to petition the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to allow prisoners and detainees to vote in next year’s elections.

In a two-page resolution released Tuesday, the CHR said that every citizen’s right to vote is assured in the Constitution and stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

But the CHR said the government had failed to provide prisoners “the necessary special facilities and procedures for voting inside or near their places of detention.”

This is “tantamount to the denial of the right of suffrage of the prisoners, in violation of the Constitution and other international laws,” the CHR said.

The resolution said the CHR would petition the Comelec to establish guidelines and rules and regulations that would allow detainees and prisoners to vote.

58,121 inmates

According to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, there were 58,121 inmates around the country as of June. It’s unclear how many of them are serving final sentences.

Conviction of a crime entails the “suspension from public office and the right to vote and be voted for,” according to the penal code.

The Voter’s Registration Act of 1996 also says that any person who has been sentenced by final judgment to be imprisoned for not less than one year, and any person who has been judged to have committed any crime “involving disloyalty to the duly constituted government such as rebellion, sedition, violation of the firearms laws or any crime against national security” shall be disqualified from registering as a voter.

This person will automatically reacquire his or her right to vote upon expiration of five years after the service of the sentence. Alcuin Papa