MANILA – Poll watchdog Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) urged Congress on Saturday to pass election-related reforms pending in the legislature so that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) could implement them ahead of the 2025 elections.
In a press conference, lawyer Ona Caritos, executive director of Lente, said the pending electoral reform bills, include the accessible voting bill and Comelec integrity bill, in the Congress. The two bills will make it easier for seniors and persons with disabilities to vote in “accessible polling places” while the proposed “Comelec Integrity Act” will allow the poll body to create field offices in the local governments and create positions for election workers.
“We’re calling on friends from civil society, Comelec and other agencies. Let’s move and let us pressure… our Congress to finally look at electoral reforms in a new light and take it more seriously,” Caritos said.
Caritos noted that of the four electoral legislations passed in the 17th and 18th Congress, two were related to postponement of elections, while the rest were laws on election propaganda, which were both meant only for candidates.
“We’re not talking about the rights of voters like accessibility,” said Caritos, adding that her group is also pushing for the amendment of laws to give more teeth to penalties for poll offenses.
The head of the poll watchdog stressed the importance of getting these measures signed into law by next year because come 2024, or a year before the next midterm polls, legislators will already be busy with their election campaigns.
For his part, Comelec Chair George Garcia also identified key election measures that should be passed: moving the effectivity of premature campaigning to the start of the filing of certificate of candidacy; early voting for PWDs, elderly and pregnant women; “enhancing the law” on buying and vote selling; and amending the Party-List System Act to redefine the marginalized and underrepresented.
Meanwhile, the regular voter registration in Comelec field offices nationwide will begin on Monday and will run until Jan. 22 next year.
Its special registration activity called “Register Anywhere Project,” which is exclusively for new voters and those who want to transfer their registration to another area, will start on Dec. 17 in preparation for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls.
The pilot test will be held in five malls in Metro Manila, namely SM Fairview in Quezon City, SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City, SM South Mall in Las Piñas City, Robinsons Place in Manila and Robinsons Galleria in Quezon City. It will also be opened at the Senate, House of Representatives as well as the main office of the Government Service Insurance System, but dates have yet to be announced.
Outside the capital region, the project will be held at Robinson’s Mall in Tacloban City; SM City in Legazpi City; and Robinson’s Mall in Naga City. (Kathleen de Villa © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
