CEBU, Philippines - The 1,200 provincial inmates who availed of the off-site registration of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) are now registered voters of Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City.
This means all of them can vote not just for national positions but also for candidates for Cebu City’s congressman, mayor, vice mayor and south district councilors, according to Provincial Elections Supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano.
They can even vote in the barangay elections for Kalunasan, added Castillano.
Kalunasan has some 10,300 voters in the last October 2010 elections. The Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) is being run by the Provincial Government of Cebu under the Office of the Governor.
Governor Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday said that she has to study if she would allow political groups to campaign inside the jail.
“Atong timbang-timbangon, tan-awn usa nato,” Garcia said. (Let’s see.)
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and south district Rep. Tomas Osmeña will be running against each other for mayor next year and they have to ask permission from Garcia if they would wish to campaign before the inmates.
Rama has a good working relationship with Garcia, while the two are against Osmeña.
“Unsaon ni nato pagtimbang-timbang ug kinsa’y atong pasulti-on kay tingali unya’g mag away ang duha ka partido,” Garcia said. (Let’s weigh things carefully.)
Garcia emphasized that voting is only secondary for the provincial inmates. What is really most important, she said, is to maintain discipline in the jail and to continue working on a program to rehabilitate them.
The offsite registration at CPDRC was the first for the jail facility.
Offsite 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 registrants who are hindered from going to registration centers because of physical conditions.
The detainees’ self-discipline contributed to a smooth-sailing offsite registration at the CPDRC that culminated yesterday.
Lawyer Edwin Cadungog, Cebu City south district election officer who supervised the two-day offsite registration at CPDRC, said not a single incident marred the procedure as the prisoners policed their own ranks.
“Disiplinado kaayo sila,” Cadungog said in an interview with The FREEMAN. (They are very disciplined.)
Apart from the prison leaders commonly known as “brigada mayor”, a sufficient number of jail guards watched over the detainees, he added.
The registration procedure per inmate was speedy, Cadungog said. The offsite registration at CPDRC ran from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but as of 5 p.m. yesterday, Cadungog said there were still more or less 50 detainees who were still due for registration.
Nevertheless, Cadungog said they pushed through with accommodating the remaining inmates. — /JPM (FREEMAN)