The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) is coordinating with the management of the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm (IPPF) in screening inmates or persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) should they participate in the 2022 national and local elections.
Levi Evangelista, corrections technical officer II and IPPF spokesperson, said they have already listed an initial 63 inmates considered as qualified voters.
However, he said the list will still be validated by the poll body.
“‘Yong nabigay kong figure is just the minimum, from time to time if may na-commit dito but their case is on appeal ay mapapadagdag pa rin ‘yon,” Evangelista said Thursday.
The qualified inmates are those whose cases are still on appeal.
The tentative schedule of special registration for qualified inmates is in August this year.
Evangelista added that this is the first time that IPPF will hold a special registration for qualified inmates to participate in the election in accordance with the Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL) Voting Act of 2014.
“Malaking prebilihiyo that even they are committed already but still they can exercise their rights to vote. Nawawala lang yong privilege na ‘yon kung nabasahan na sila sa korte, kapag nag-appeal sila, nagkakaroon uli sila ng karapatan at malaking bagay din sa kanila ‘yon and sa amin na pwede pala yong ganon,” he pointed out.
