In Zamboanga City, 852 inmates get to vote inside 2 jails

RIGHT TO SUFFRAGE Persons deprived of liberty inside the Zamboanga City Reformatory Center, shown in this undated photo, can now vote for those running for barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan seats in Barangay Zone 1, where the center is located. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CITY GOVERNMENT OF ZAMBOANGA

ZAMBOANGA CITY—For the first time since the mechanism was established in 2013 that allowed persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) to cast votes, balloting will be held inside two jail facilities in the city, where more than 800 inmates will vote for the slated barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections on Monday.

City election officer Stephen Roy Cañete said 650 PDLs would cast their votes in precincts organized inside Zamboanga City Reformatory Center (ZCRC), and another 202 at San Ramon Penal Farm (SRPF). Those in ZCRC will vote for barangay and SK candidates of Barangay Zone 1, where the center is located, while those at SRPF will cast their ballots for candidates of Barangay Talisayan, where the penal farm is found.

“This is the first time we are going to implement the PDL voting in local elections,” Cañete said.

He explained that as mandated by law, all PDLs not yet meted out their final conviction would still be allowed to vote.

The board of elections inspectors assigned to both jails will be assisted by personnel from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and the Bureau of Corrections to ensure an orderly balloting inside the jails.

Xavier Solda, ZCRC jail superintendent, said they were all set for Monday’s political exercise, having done simulations with the local Commission on Elections (Comelec) office and had also conducted voters’ education inside the facility to educate the PDLs on the value of their vote.

Of the 650 PDLs under his watch, Solda said the oldest voter is 66 years old while the youngest is 22. The 650 PDLs, including 25 women, were registered in 11 different precincts at Zamboanga Central School, where the counting of their votes will be done.

The PDL voting, as mandated by Comelec Resolution No. 9371, was the subject of a temporary restraining order (TRO) by the Supreme Court in 2016, after a petition had been filed asking the high court to subject it to a judicial review.

But in a ruling penned by Associate Justice Jhosep Lopez in August last year, the high court dismissed the petition against the Comelec resolution, saying there was no substantive case to warrant its judicial review. The ruling also lifted the TRO, paving the way for qualified PDLs to vote on Monday, and in all scheduled national and local elections, hence. INQ