CBCP, Comelec team up for prisoners' right to vote

MANILA, Philippines – Steel bars should not deprive a prisoner from exercising the right to vote.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care (CBCP-ECPPC) yesterday teamed up with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to push for allowing prisoners to vote in the coming elections provided that they have not yet been convicted.

CBCP-ECPPC executive secretary Rodolfo Diamante formally handed over to Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento letters of detainees from various Church dioceses requesting that they be allowed to exercise their right to suffrage.

This is in connection with the observance of the 21st Prison Awareness Sunday with this year’s theme “Pag-ibig Mo: Tanglaw, Gabay at Lakas Ko.”

According to Diamante, only 30 percent or 25,500 of the approximately 85,000 prisoners in the country have been convicted of crimes, while the remaining 70 percent or 59,500 are only classified as detainees, and under the law they are still entitled to vote.

He believed that justice should be fair, whether they are rich or poor.

He said if a politician, apparently referring to former Zamboanga del Norte congressman Romeo Jalosjos, could win a seat in the House of Representatives, then ordinary people should be allowed to cast their ballot and choose the next leaders of the country.

“The CBCP-ECPPC believes that being detention prisoners, they are still presumed innocent; hence their civil and political rights as citizens remain intact and can be availed of. Therefore, their right to vote must be respected. The CBCP-CPPC calls on our government, policy makers, especially the Comelec, to immediately come up with a mechanism to ensure that the detainees’ voting rights are upheld,” Diamante said.