BuCor: Over 4,000 prisoners voted

MORE than 4,000 prisoners across several facilities under the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) cast their ballots for the midterm polls on Monday.

BuCor told reporters in a Viber chat that 4,125 prisoners were registered for this year’s polls.

The country’s national penitentiary, New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, had the highest number of registered voters at 2,135, including 473 inactive voters.

Other correctional facilities with registered voters included the Davao Prison and Penal Farm (924), the Leyte Regional Prison (421), and the San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga del Sur (290).

Additionally, 140 prisoners from the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, were registered, alongside 123 from the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City and 92 from CIW-Mindanao.

“As long as their case hasn’t been finalized, as long as their case is under appeal or still being heard, they are allowed to vote,” Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia told reporters in Filipino when he visited New Bilibid Prison on Monday.

“All of their ballots will later be brought to the various precincts where they are actually registered voters. There, the ballots will be fed and entered into the machines.”

He added the law provides that a person retains his right to vote until there is a final judgment of conviction. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana