CHR to monitor tomorrow's voting process

MANILA, Philippines –  The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said it will monitor incidents of human rights violations in tomorrow’s barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.

CHR chair Loretta Ann Rosales has ordered the creation of teams to check on the voting process and ensure that rights of voters are recognized and respected.

“We have already instructed all our regional offices to create three teams each that shall be dispatched to polling places within their areas of jurisdiction. We have also instructed our regional offices to form Quick Reaction Teams that shall be on standby to immediately act on any report of untoward incidents,” Rosales said.

The Commission is also concerned with safeguarding the right to suffrage of qualified detainees and has constituted teams to be detailed to jail facilities or detention centers in Manila, Valenzuela, Las Piñas, Antipolo, Olongapo and Bacoor, Cavite.

These detention centers reportedly have the most number of qualified detainee voters.

“Your Commission on Human Rights is doing all this to protect and promote our human right to suffrage. Our right to participate in the electoral process is a sacred right – it is the foundation of our democracy, and the very expression of our sovereign will. We should all work towards the fulfillment of this fundamental right,” Rosales stressed.

This developed after the CHR received the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Resolution No. 9070, promulgating the Revised Rules and Regulations on Detainee Voting during the barangay and SK Elections. Under the said resolution, detainees whose voter registration is not deactivated or cancelled are entitled to exercise their right to participate in the electoral process.

 “We welcome this resolution coming from the Comelec.

This resolution is in fact long-awaited, and is a product of continuing dialogues and collaborative work among the CHR, the Comelec and various civil society organizations, including the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines and the Ateneo School of Government. We started this initiative on detainee voting in the 2010 national elections. It is only just and appropriate to continue what we have started,” Rosales said.