Senate bill seeks special polling places for persons with disability, elderly

Senator Aquilino Pimentel III. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—A person’s disability or age should not stop him or her from casting a vote and participating in the country’s elections.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, chairman of the Senate committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation, has filed a bill that aims to give greater access to polling precincts and registration booths for persons with disabilities (PWDs) and senior citizens (SCs).

“How can these sectors register as voters when the registration centers are not easily accessible to them? How can they eventually vote when their precincts are located on the upper floors of the polling centers without elevators or electric-run stairs to make things easier for them?” Pimentel said in a statement Friday.

In Pimentel’s sponsorship speech of Senate Bill 3287 or “An Act Ensuring the Accessibility of the Electoral Process for Persons with Disability and Senior Citizens”, he pointed out the “vital contributions of PWDs and SCs to nation-building and the need for lawmakers to give more meaning to the exercise of their political rights without discrimination or restriction.”

He said that SCs and PWDs are “two disadvantaged sectors in our society which continue to demonstrate their willingness to continuously build a great Filipino nation.”

The bill, if passed, will direct the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to establish special polling places for PWDs and SCs on  election day as well as special registration centers during the registration period.

Pimentel cited Republic Act number 7277 or the Magna Carta for Persons with Disability which states that “polling places should be made accessible to disabled persons during national and local elections.”

The bill also directs the Comelec to keep an updated record of PWDs and SCs who are registered voters with specific indications of their type of disability and whatever assistance they require “to enable them to participate meaningfully and with ease in electoral processes,” Pimentel said.

Special ballots written in Braille, a form of writing for the blind or visually impaired, may be designed by the Comelec to allow PWDs and SCs to vote by themselves, Pimentel said.

“A PWD or SC who is illiterate or physically unable to prepare the ballot by himself or herself may be assisted in the preparation of his or her ballot by a relative by affinity or consanguinity within the fourth civil degree, or if he or she has none, by any person of his or her confidence who belongs to the same household, or by any member of the board of election inspectors (BEI),” Pimentel said.

The Comelec would also be required to “organize, design, and implement sensitivity training programs for persons performing electoral duties to familiarize them with the needs of the PWDs and SCs,” he added.