The House of Representatives on Tuesday endorsed for Senate approval a bill allowing early voting for senior citizens and persons with disability (PWDs) in national and local elections, including a measure imposing stiffer penalties on nuisance candidates.
House Bill 9562, which was approved by 196 lawmakers on final reading, would give senior citizens and PWDs the opportunity to exercise their right of suffrage a week earlier than regular voters, beginning with the May 2022 combined presidential-congressional-local polls.
Under the bill, the Comelec is mandated to schedule voting for senior citizens and PWDs in establishments accessible to them within seven days before the date of the elections.
The poll body is to conduct nationwide registration for the affected voters to qualify them for early voting. Those who fail to register will vote on Election Day.
The Comelec would also be tasked to launch an information campaign for early voting for qualified registered voters.
The poll body is mandated to issue implementing rules and regulations within 90 days from the date the proposed law takes effect.
Funds for the implementation of the proposed early voting law would be initially charged against the Comelec budget and thereafter included in the annual appropriations bill.
Nuisance candidates
TO preserve the integrity of the electoral process and promote respect for it as an important facet of Philippine democracy, the lower chamber also approved with 191 votes House Bill 9557 on third and final reading.
The bill mandates the Commission on Elections, upon notice and hearing, and upon proof of malice or bad faith, to impose the penalty of a minimum of P100,000 on the person who filed such a certificate of candidacy to put the election process in mockery or disrepute or to cause confusion among the voters by the similarity of the names of the registered candidates or by other circumstances or acts which clearly demonstrate that the person has no bona fide intention to run for the office for which the certificate of candidacy was filed, and thus prevent a faithful determination of the true will of the electorate.
It also provides that any person named in the verified petition and found to have been in conspiracy with or to have induced the person to file such a certificate shall likewise be made to pay a fine of a minimum of P100,000.
The bill said the Comelec shall summon the nuisance candidate, the person or persons alleged to have caused the filing of the certificate of candidacy in question, and the members of the candidate’s party in a hearing specifically called to determine the existence of malice and bad faith in the filing of the certificate of candidacy in question.
For his part, House Committee on Senior Citizens Chairman Rodolfo Ordanes urged President Duterte to certify the bill as urgent for its smooth passage in the Senate.
“I know time is in short supply in the legislative calendar and the Comelec timetable, and the pandemic is an added constraint, but I pray HB 9562 becomes law soon enough, so the Comelec can make it happen for the May 2022 elections. Perhaps Malacañang can deem it necessary to make HB 9562 a certified urgent bill. I can only hope and pray. I still believe in miracles,” he said.
“I know Comelec already has existing measures for the convenience of senior citizens and PWDs, so in case the bill does not become law in time, I further appeal that the Comelec commissioners will have some spaces in their hearts to make the May 2022 elections as convenient for seniors and PWDs as current laws, regulations, and means would allow,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ordanes said he will do his best to convince the senators to support this bill in their chamber.