A first for the facility, poll registration for CPDRC inmates

CEBU, Philippines - Inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) are undergoing a two-day offsite registration that started yesterday, the first for the jail facility.

As of yesterday, around 500 inmates were expected to avail of the special procedure set up by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and 700 more will be accommodated today. 1,200 out of 1600 inmates at CPDRC expressed interest in the registration.

Comelec South District Election Officer Edwin Cadungog conducted yesterday’s registration, aided by 10 election assistants and five casual workers. The team used two voter registration machines.

The registration was observed himself by Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, who set in place the system allowing inmates to register and vote for the May 2013 elections.

Sarmiento said the registration at CPDRC was orderly and successful and he will push through with the same for other jail facilities.

Comelec Provincial Supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano, who supervised the registration, said this is a good system inasmuch as inmates are not only given the privilege to vote, but also with due consideration to the public’s security.

“Last elections, escortan ra ning mga inmates padung Comelec unya during registration, tampo ra sila sa mga ordinary individuals, which is risgo kaayo,” Castillano said. Inmates who are not yet convicted or awaiting trial can register. (Last elections the inmates were escorted to the Comelec office and were treated like ordinary voters. It was such a risk.)

The Comelec, however, cannot compel big jail facilities like CPDRC and Cebu City Jail, which houses over 2,000 inmates, to allow offsite registration in their jurisdictions.

Right now, Castillano said they are just waiting for Cebu City Jail, which underwent the procedure last elections, to request again for another offsite registration for their inmates this year.

“Coordination man gud ang maayo kay sila may nakabalo kun daghan ba ang wa pa karehistro. Makabotar pa ang mga inmate, maminusan pa atong problema sa September to October puhon which is tingdagsa sa mga magparehistro,” he said. (The jail management knows how many inmates have yet to register, so we are awaiting their request.)

Inmates from municipal jails will still be escorted to the nearest Comelec offices, Castillano said. There are only a few of them, though, he added. Should the rest of the 1200 inmates fail to register today because of time constraints, Castillano said they will set another day by August to accommodate them.

Castillano said their election officers and election assistant here will be sent next month to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) for the general registration of voters there.

Off-site or satellite registration is a special procedure where Comelec brings the entire process on registration of votes, validation of names, and correction of entries down to the sites of the voters instead of the usual procedure where registrants go to Comelec registration centers.

The procedure also accommodates persons with disability, senior citizens and illiterate registrants who are hindered because of physical condition to register at Comelec municipal registration centers. Likewise, Castillano said they go to mountain barangays to conduct the offsite registration to residents instead of doing the usual effort of loading them by batch towards the city. – (FREEMAN)