By Rjay Zuriaga Castor
Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL) in Iloilo City can cast their votes for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) on October 30 inside their detention centers, an election officer said.
“Ang Iloilo City na qualify nga mag establish sang ginatawag nga nga special polling place didto sa sulod sang detention center,” Iloilo City Assistant Election Officer Jonathan Sayno told Daily Guardian on Tuesday.
In the city, there are two jail facilities supervised by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP)-Region 6: the Iloilo City District Jail (male dormitory) in Barangay Ungka, Jaro district, and its female dormitory on Gen. Luna St., City Proper district.
These two jail facilities will serve as the special polling places for PDL voters. There are around 100 PDL voters in the city, according to the election officer.
Sayno explained that registered PDL voters can cast their votes for the respective candidates in the barangay where they are listed as registered voters.
Regarding the special polling place, he added that an Electoral Board for PDL voters (EB-PDL) will designate a support staff for every voting center with PDL voters. There will be one EB-PDL support staff with a uniformed security escort for each special polling place.
On election day, a Special Electoral Board for PDL voters (SEB-PDL) will receive the necessary election paraphernalia from the city treasurer and the election officer and bring them to the special polling place.
“Ang process lang, pabutuhon lang [ang PDL voter] didto pero wala didto ang balota kag ballot box. Ang procedure and ang mechanics, gina identify natun ang mga polling centers kung sin-o dira ang mga PDL voters,” Sayno explained.
The SEB-PDL will also receive precinct-specific ballots from SEB-PDL support staff, which are contained in properly sealed and signed envelopes.
Sayno said the SEB-PDL will have the authority to conduct and supervise the voting of PDL voters.
After a PDL voter casts their vote, the SEB-PDL will seal and sign the envelopes containing the accomplished ballot and hand them over to the support staff for delivery to the regular polling places where the ballots were collected.
The SEB-PDL support staff must return the completed ballots to the voting centers no later than 2:00 p.m. on October 30.
Sayno noted that the SEB-PDL support staff will be accompanied by a uniformed security escort to ensure the safe transportation of accomplished ballots from the voting center to the special polling place and back.
