ELECTIONS

• Elections in the Philippines are the arena in which the country's elite families compete for political power
• Families competing for political power

  • Wealthiest clans contest national and provincial offices
  • Families of lesser wealth compete for municipal offices
• In the barangays, where most people are equally poor, elections confer social prestige but no real power or money
• The last presidential election was held

  2016
• The next presidential election will be held

  2022
• National and local elections

  Held on the second Monday of May every third year, starting in 1992
• The Philippines has a multi-party system


  • Numerous parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, parties must work with each other to form a coalition government
• Commission on Elections (COMELEC)


  • Empowered to supervise every aspect of campaigns and elections, composed of a chairperson and six commissioners
• Voting process since 2010 elections

  Voters have to shade the oval indicated before the candidate's name, a voting machine manufactured by Smartmatic automatically counts each ballot as it is fed into it, the results are then printed as the election return and sent electronically to the city or municipal board of canvassers
• Suffrage


  The right and obligation to vote for qualified citizens
• Nature of suffrage


  • Mere privilege upon fulfillment of certain minimum conditions
  • Political rights - citizens to participate in the process of government (principle of one man, one vote)
• Election


  People choose their official for definite and fixed periods
• Plebiscite


  A vote of the people expressing their choice or against a proposed law or enactment submitted to them
• Initiative


  A process whereby the people directly propose and enact laws, amendments to the constitution may be done through this
• Recall


  A method by which a public officer may be removed from office by the vote of the people after the registration of a petition signed by a required percentage of qualified voters
• Qualification of voters


  • Citizen (male or female) of the Philippines
  • Not otherwise disqualified by law
  • At least 18 years of age
  • Resided in the Philippines for at least 1 year and in the place wherein he proposes to vote for at least 6 months preceding the elections
• Persons disqualified to vote


  • Any person sentenced by final judgment to suffer imprisonment for not less than 1 year, reacquire the right upon expiration of 5 years after service of the sentence
  • Any person (by final judgment) who has committed any crime involving disloyalty to the duly constituted government (rebellion, sedition, crime against national security), reacquire the right upon expiration of 5 years after service of the sentence
  • Insane or incompetent persons, as declared by competent authority
• Property requirement for voting is prohibited as it is not a test of an individual's capacity, is consistent with the concept of republican government where sovereignty resides in the people, and is inconsistent with social justice principles of equal opportunity for rich and poor people
• Other substantive requirements prohibited for voting

  • Education
  • Sex
  • Taxpaying ability
• Arguments for and against compulsory suffrage

  • Against compulsory suffrage - Coercive voting as undemocratic and against a person's will
  • In favor of compulsory suffrage - There should be popular sovereignty
• Congress shall provide a system for securing the secrecy and sanctity of the ballot, including a system for absentee voting by qualified Filipinos abroad and a procedure for the disabled and illiterate to vote without the consent of other persons
• Overseas Absentee Voting Act (Republic Act No. 9189)


  A law in the Philippines passed on February 4, 2003, which provides for a system for citizens of the Philippines currently residing or working outside of the Philippines to vote in an election
• Eligible positions for overseas absentee voters

  • President (only in presidential election years)
  • Vice President (only in presidential election years)
  • Senators
  • Party-list representatives (the party is the one being voted for)
• Eligibility requirements for overseas absentee voters

  • Filipino citizens abroad who are not disqualified by law and are at least 18 years old by the time of the elections, required to file their applications personally at the Philippine Embassy or consulate in their region, holders of a valid Philippine passport with an accomplished overseas absentee voting (OAV) registration form from the commission on elections, for seafarers a photocopy of their seaman's book is required, if the individual availed themselves of the citizen retention and reacquisition act (R.A. 9225), they would need to submit their order of approval application for the said act
• what is the section 2 of the article 5 


  The congress shall provide a system for securing the secrecy and sanctity of the ballots as well as a system for absentee voting by qualified Filipinos abroad
• what does the COMELEC resolution 9371 states?


  detainees can vote, through a special polling place inside jails.
• the oversee absentee voting act is officially known as?

  Republic act No. 9189
• when was R.A No. 9189 was passed?

  February 4, 2003
• what is the R.A No. 9225?

  retention or reacquisition act.
• what is the act that provide overseas absentee voting ?

  R.A No. 9189
• what does OAV means?

  Overseas Absentees Voters
• what does COMELEC means?

  The Commission on Elections
• what does BJMP stands for?

  Bureau of Jail Management and Penology
• COMELEC is composed of how many people?

  chairperson and 6 commissioners
• what is suffrage?


  the right and obligation to vote for qualified citizens