By Connie Calipay / Philippine News Agency
A Commission on Elections (Comelec)-Region 5 (Bicol) official on Thursday (Nov. 18) said vaccination cards as a requirement for voting in the 2022 national and local polls cannot be made mandatory.
“I think, we cannot do and ask [for a] vaccination card as a mandatory requirement during election day for voters on May 9, 2021, since there is no law that requires it,” Comelec-5 Director III and concurrent Sorsogon Provincial Election Supervisor Calixto Aquino said in an interview.
He noted that the right of suffrage is under the Constitution with certain qualifications for individuals who can exercise it.
“If we will add requirements for those who can exercise the right of suffrage, it must be written in the 1987 Constitution,” said Aquino, who is a lawyer.
He cited as an example a case wherein a certain candidate was asked to submit a drug test result as a requirement in filing the certificate of candidacy, but the Supreme Court ruled the practice as unconstitutional.
“If the Comelec will impose the vaccination card as a requirement for voters during election day, it will right away be challenged,” lawyer Ona Caritos, Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) executive director, also said during a media forum on Wednesday.
“It is in the Constitution, the qualifications to be a registered voter and vaccination card is not one of them, therefore it will be surely challenged,” she added. (PNA) – jlo
