Explanation of Vote 

House Bill 7576 – An Act Providing For Early Voting By Qualified Senior Citizens, Persons With Disabilities, Lawyers, And Human Resources For Health In National And Local Elections

By Deputy Speaker and Batangas Rep. Ralph G. Recto

8 May 2023

Voting in the Philippines is not only a test of one’s political will but also of physical strength. 

The lines are never short and the hours always long.

And on election day, a voter must run the gauntlet of voting machine glitches, electricity outages, mysterious disappearance of public rides.

Other risks pose danger to one’s health. Precincts being shot at, to frighten people from voting. 

Because to the desperate, if ballots cannot a deliver a mandate, maybe the bullets can.

There are, however, benign forms of voter disenfranchisement, caused by institutional obstacles. 

For PWDs, voting sites are far from PWD-friendly. 

Public schools with more than one floors are not equipped with elevators, making voting literally a “matayog na pangarap” to the wheelchair-bound. 

A sight-impaired citizen abdicates his constitutional right to vote because he doesn’t want to create the fuss which slows down voting.

Many seniors also do not have the physical constitution or stamina to withstand the rigors of going to the voting precinct to pick his ballot, fill it, and feed it to the machine.

Tapos dadagdagan pa ng microscopic print on ballots.

There are also professions whose very nature of work prevents them from voting.

On top of the list are medical personnel, especially those on hospital duty. Should they exercise their right to suffrage, their patients would suffer.

Keeping the peace is also a 24/7 vocation, so a policeman abandoning his post on election day is still desertion no matter temporary. 

These are examples of disenfranchisement caused by duty.

This bill ensures that fidelity to their job should not be punished with the denial of the opportunity to vote.

And to the PWDs, the message is this: Disability should not be a cause of disenfranchisement. By making it easier for them to vote, this bill, in effect, provides access ramps to democracy.

Election day or every day, let us not be deaf or blind to their plight.

And to seniors, handicaps brought by age, if any, should not be a hurdle to voting.

To these sectors, this bill seeks to create ease in their voting by instituting early voting for them.

In fact, voters in this country are far too many to be accommodated in one day. Our system is simply overwhelmed by the number of voters. 

Mr. Speaker, let us pass this bill because no citizen should be denied of his right to vote on account of his work, age or physical traits.