Malacañang declares Election Day a holiday
President Marcos has declared Election Day, May 12, a special nonworking holiday to allow Filipinos time to vote.
Malacañang issued Proclamation No. 878 on Tuesday after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) asked the Palace to proclaim that day a holiday, as the voting public takes part in the midterm elections.
Over 71 million Filipinos are registered voters, according to the poll body. The electorate will choose among candidates vying for 317 seats in the House of Representatives, 12 of 24 seats in the Senate, and executive and legislative posts in the provincial, city and municipal levels.
Election Day is usually declared a holiday by the Palace.
The Department of Labor and Employment was also urged to adopt several measures that would allow workers to vote on Election Day—such as giving employees sufficient time to travel to their home provinces and allowing workers on duty on Election Day more time to vote before reporting to work.
“These measures aim to facilitate maximum voter turnout among the working population, thus, reinforcing the principles of inclusive and participatory democracy,” said labor leader and senatorial candidate Sonny Matula, who made these suggestions.
Meanwhile, the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) wants the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to suspend classes from May 10 to 13, so registered voters among students may be allowed to vote.
CHEd should take the initiative to ensure the high turnout of student voters, NUSP national president Iya Trinidad said.
“The youth must not be robbed of an opportunity to win the future we deserve,” she said in a statement, adding that 28.79 percent of the voting population, or 21.87 million voters, are in the tertiary education level.
Online registration
The Comelec en banc has also extended the prevoting enrollment deadline for online voters beginning today, May 7, until May 10.
The Comelec said that only 11.01 percent or 134,474 of 1.2 million overseas voters were able to enroll in the poll body’s internet voting system.
Ian Michel Geonanga, director of the Comelec’s Office for Overseas Voting, said his unit had received multiple requests for an extension from the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan and different Philippine diplomatic posts as well as Filipino communities abroad.
“[We] hope [to] further increase the number or enrolled overseas voters [to] increase [the] turnout [in] online voting,” Geonanga said.
Data privacy
Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian has also ordered the Department of Social Welfare and Development to ensure data privacy among its beneficiaries—particularly those in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program—so they will not be exploited in electioneering attempts by the candidates or their supporters.
Gatchalian also ordered his agency’s regional offices to enforce the ban on the distribution of cash grants, such as the Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program and the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations.
These assistance programs should be suspended 10 days before Election Day, in compliance with Comelec rules seeking to discourage candidates and supporters from influencing the voters. —WITH REPORTS FROM KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING, DEMPSEY REYES, JEROME ANING AND KATHLEEN DE VILLA
