2016 has arrived and for us, Filipinos, this is a very important year as we are about to have the next president who will be taking over our country for the next six years. With the upcoming general elections in May, many candidates have promised to bring about change in our country. The kind of change that we, Filipinos, have craved for in years and are very excited to witness and be part of. However, with the new “No Bio, No Boto” policy of the Commission of Elections (Comelec), the voices of about 2.5 million voters will not be heard simply because they have not been fingerprinted or photographed.
On February 15, 2013, President Benigno S. Aquino III approved the Republic Act No. 10367 (An Act Providing For Mandatory Biometrics Voter Registration). This act, which is more commonly known as the “No Bio, No Boto” policy, states that all registered voters must be able to have their biometric data recorded in order for them to vote in this year’s general elections. The purpose of this policy, according to the Comelec, is to “cleanse the national voter registry so as to eliminate electoral fraud.” This policy has been contested by the Kabataan Party-list group led by Terry Ridon, claiming that the new policy is unconstitutional as it limits the democratic right to suffrage of those people who were not able to have their biometric data recorded. However, on December 16, 2015, the Supreme Court has unanimously decided to uphold the “No Bio, No Boto” policy prohibiting about 2.5 million people to vote this upcoming elections.
Personally, I believe that this decision is a major impediment in our electoral process. The right to vote is what makes each citizen of a democratic country like ours powerful as he or she is given the ability to elect the leaders of our country. This right is even enshrined in our Constitution. A right that cannot simply be taken away by the mere lack of biometric data of a voter who has already been considered as a registered voter in the first place.
According to Section 1, Article 5 of the 1987 Constitution, “suffrage may be exercised by all citizens of the Philippines, not otherwise disqualified by law, who are at least eighteen years of age, and who shall have resided in the Philippines for at least one year and in the place wherein they propose to vote, for at least six months immediately preceding the election. No literacy, property, or other substantive requirement shall be imposed on the exercise of suffrage.”
There are several grounds that can disqualify a person from voting according to Section 11 of the Republic Act No. 8189 (An Act Providing For A General Registration Of Voters, Adopting A System Of Continuing Registration, Prescribing The Procedures Thereof And Authorizing The Appropriation Of Funds Therefor). These include conviction of a crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment, conviction of any crime involving disloyalty to the duly constituted government, or by being declared as an insane or incompetent person. I guess it is safe to say that these are very serious grounds compared to the mere non-compliance of undergoing the biometrics process.
I understand and agree with what Comelec wishes to achieve with this new policy and I do not think that requiring voters to undergo biometrics should be an issue but to punish voters by disqualifying them from voting because of non-compliance is unreasonable and greatly contradicts what the true meaning of democracy is. The government should not take a substantial right away from its citizens simply because of non-compliance of a mere procedural requirement that does not even bear any factor on the individual’s capacity to vote with discernment.
Lastly, some would argue that merely 2.5 million voters will be affected but in a tight race like the one that we currently have between the presidential candidates, those 2.5 million votes can make a big difference.
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