By Mae Singuay

A total of 1,279 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) in Bacolod City are eligible to vote during the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) on October 30.

Records from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Bacolod showed 402 PDLs are eligible to vote at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP)-Metro Bacolod District Jail in Barangay Singcang-Airport, and 877 PDLs at BJMP-Bacolod District Jail in Barangay Handumanan.

Comelec-Bacolod officer Kathrina Trinio-Caña said this will be the first time that the PDLs are allowed to vote in BSKE.

They only vote for the national elections, she added.

During the BSKE on October 30, a support staff will get the ballots from the PDLs’ respective voting precincts where they are listed as registered voters, Trinio-Caña said.

She said, for example, if a PDL was registered in Barangay Bata, then the ballot would be taken from the precinct to the jail so that the PDL can vote.

The voting hours for PDLs will be from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., only to give time for the support staff to return the filled ballots to the designated precincts.

Meanwhile, Trinio-Caña said a meeting was held last week with the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines and other deputized agencies citing that Bacolod has no election areas of concern.

She hopes that this status will be maintained until the election period ends.

The elections officer added that there were no intense political rivalries and no presence of armed groups in the city.

As of now, she said that her office has not recorded any apprehensions during the election gun ban.

The Comelec officer also appealed to candidates in the BSKE to follow election laws on campaigning.

She warned political aspirants that premature campaigning for now is prohibited, and they may be disqualified for the polls if they were caught./MS, WDJ