ILOILO City – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has yet to release the guidelines that must be followed by persons deprived of liberty (inmates) exercising their right to vote, according to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) Region 6.
The midterm elections are on May 13, 2019.
In the 2016 national elections inmates were only allowed to vote for candidates seeking national elective posts (president, vice president and senator) and party-list candidates, according to BJMP-6 director Senior Superintendent Joel Superficial.
“For the upcoming elections, we want to know if persons deprived of liberty would be allowed to vote for local candidates,” said Superficial.
There are 9,500 persons deprived of liberty in Western Visayas, BJMP-6 data showed. They are detained in 37 jails facilities and most have drug cases.
“I’m not sure subong, wala ako sang exact figure kon pila ka mga inmates ang qualified nga mag-participate sa midterm elections,” said Superficial.
The Region 6 prison facility with the most number of inmates is the Iloilo District Jail in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo (2,000)./PN
