VOTER REGISTRATION. An inmate of the Metro Bacolod District Jail (MBDJ)-Female Dormitory (seated, 2nd from right) participates in the special satellite voter registration held at the jail facility in Barangay Handumanan on Tuesday (August 29, 2018). (Photo from MBDJ-Female Dormitory Facebook account)
BACOLOD CITY -- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is conducting satellite voter registration for inmates of three facilities of the Metro Bacolod District Jail (MBDJ).
On Tuesday, poll personnel went to the MBDJ-Female Dormitory in Barangay Handumanan where 38 inmates had registered for the May 2019 national and local elections.
City Election Registrar Mavil Majarucon-Sia said inmates who have not been convicted still have the right to vote.
The special satellite registration for persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) is under the supervision of Commissioner Ma. Rowena Guanzon, commissioner-in-charge on detainee voting and head of the Gender and Development-Focal Point System Executive Committee.
Guanzon, who visited the MBDJ-Female Dormitory on Tuesday to ensure the smooth conduct of the special registration, said in an interview the Comelec is reaching out to more women voters as part of the Comelec’s aim to be more inclusive.
A total of 38 out of the 192 inmates of the MBDJ-Female Dormitory were registered.
Majarucon-Sia said some of the inmates decided not to register after learning they can only vote for national candidates, not for those running for local positions.
Most of the inmates are actually registered voters, but not in Bacolod, she added.
The Comelec-Bacolod will hold a satellite registration at the MBDJ-Special Intensive Care Area in Barangay Singcang-Airport on September 14 and at the MBDJ-Male Dormitory in Barangay Handumanan on September 21.
Special satellite registrations are also being conducted in other Bureau of Jail Management and Penology facilities in Negros Occidental.
A consolidated data submitted by the Comelec-Negros Occidental to Guanzon showed there are 3,448 inmates, including 430 females and 3,018 males, detained in various jails in the province, including those in Bacolod. (PNA)
