House OKs bill automatically declaring nat’l elections as regular holiday

House of Representatives. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has approved on the third and final reading a bill that would automatically make the day of national elections a regular non-working holiday.

As many as 198 legislators voted in favor of House Bill No. 8187 on Wednesday to amend Section 26, Chapter 7, Book 1 of Executive Order No. 292 or the Administrative Code of 1987. No lawmaker voted against it or abstained from voting on the measure.

Under Section 2 of House Bill No. 8187, national elections include plebiscites, referendums, people’s initiatives, recall elections, special elections, regional elections, and other processes of voting which are national in scope.

To recall, Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez proposed that regional elections in areas like the Cordillera Administrative Region and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao be included in the holidays.

This proposal came before House Bill No. 8187 was passed on second reading last May 30.

Rodriguez said he supports the bill because it would remove the practice of having a sitting president declare elections as a holiday. But he expressed concerns about why regional elections, which are equally important — considering the regions’ role in nation-building — are not included in House Bill No. 8187.

According to Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, the proposal would allow Filipinos to exercise their right to vote freely without considering attending to their work.

Usually, elections are held on a Monday – like in the case of national elections, which are conducted every second Monday of May.

It also saves the sitting president from repeatedly releasing proclamations for the sake of declaring elections as national holidays.

“With this proposed legislation, we hope to get the maximum participation of our voters in the national elections, which is one of the most important activities that they should do as Filipinos. The right to suffrage is guaranteed by our Constitution, and we want to value and protect this right by making sure that voters would no longer worry about missing work,” Romualdez said.

“This bill will also benefit our kababayans who work in Metro Manila or other places and need to file for leaves just so they can travel back to their provinces. We want to make sure that we assist them by declaring national elections as a regular holiday so they can exercise their right to vote hassle-free,” he added.

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