CHR COMMENDS COMELEC FOR ITS RESOLUTION ON
THE DETAINEES’ RIGHT TO VOTE

In the area of human rights, victories come far and few between. When there is therefore cause to celebrate, one must not scrimp on commendation when it is due.

The Commission on Human Rights congratulates the Commission on Elections for the unprecedented COMELEC En Banc Resolution providing the necessary mechanisms to fulfill the right of the detainees to register and vote.

The detainees who are cloaked with the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty remain holders of the right to suffrage. Unfortunately, the voices of the detainees, until very recently, were unheard, unrecognized or sadly unheeded. The new COMELEC Resolution is a positive affirmation that vulnerable sectors are now beginning to gain a foothold in the landscape of national policy.

In the Forum entitled “ Ensuring the Right to Electoral Participation, Giving Access to Vulnerable Sectors in 2010” conducted in September 2008, the Commission on Human Rights tried to achieve a public platform for the traditionally disenfranchised to identify issues and highlight the gaps between their rights as vulnerable sectors, as are the detainees, and the realization of their right to register and vote as citizens of this country.

One of the recommendations that were harvested from the national consultation was the creation of a Technical Working Group that will help devise the realization of the right to suffrage of detainees. The TWG met, bounced ideas off one another and came up with a set of recommendations for the consideration of the COMELEC. Some of the elements propounded by the group found its way to the final version of the lauded COMELEC Resolution. Indeed, the collaboration of various agencies and non-government organizations, like the Department of Interior and Local Government, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Task Force 2010 and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, is a loud testimony that much can be achieved if there is unity of hearts, singularity of purpose and the pure intention to do what is right by others.

The road to better governance does not end, however, in the said COMELEC Resolution. The same quality of commitment, creativity and goodwill exhibited by COMELEC and its partners is required by the other vulnerable sectors such as the persons with disability, the elderly, the first time voters, the indigenous people, the internally displaced and the migrant workers and all those desirous to take part in the critical 2010 elections.

The CHR continues to contribute in whatever way possible to represent the voiceless and faceless of the society. Along with its partners, the International Federation for Electoral Systems and Task Force 2010, the CHR has embarked on a series of regional consultations aimed to deepen the understanding of these issues and promote localize planning for the implementation of mechanisms that will ensure access to electoral processes for the vulnerable sectors. Last June 3, the first sectoral consultation was conducted in Naga City , Bicol. Davao consultation is tentatively scheduled on the 4 th week of June, Pampanga and Baguio on the 2 nd week of July, Zamboanga on the 1 st week of August and Calbayog on the 3 rd week of August. COMELEC is invited to take an active participation in the consultations.

The CHR commits to harvest anew both the local problems and the identified local and national solutions from these important sectoral and regional consultations and promises to endorse to the COMELEC the proposed modalities to ensure the maximum electoral participation come 2010.

The CHR is confident that in COMELEC, it has a true and genuine partner in helping create and establish an environment for rights-based governance that promotes participation, transparency, accountability and empowerment of the majority who are hopefully determined to take a tenacious part in the government of his or her country.

3 June 2009.

 

For the Commission:

By:

 

LEILA M. DE LIMA
Chairperson