THE City Council of Bacolod City has approved the resolution that urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to create special voting precincts for senior citizens and persons with disability (PWDs).
Councilor Em Ang, who sponsored the resolution, and chairperson of the Committees on Social Services and on Gender and Development, said that, as the country prepares for another political exercise scheduled on October 25, 2010, for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabatan (SK) elections, the citizens should not be deprived of their right to suffrage simply because of their physical conditions.
Senior citizens and persons with disability must be enabled to participate in elections so that they can have full and active participation in the country's most vital democratic process and that they can themselves protect and promote their welfare and interests, Ang said.
Under electoral laws, physically disabled voters are allowed to have a relative, any person they trust or any member of the board of election inspectors assisting them in filling up their ballots.
The Comelec should go the extra mile in helping the physically-challenged voters by creating disabled-friendly polling precincts located at the ground floor of polling places, as PWDs and senior citizens have difficulty climbing up stairs, the resolution stressed.
The Accessibility Law, or Batasang Pambansa No. 844, was passed to increase the mobility and access of a group of disabled persons to public offices.
The Comelec should ensure the PWDs' participation in the electoral process since the country is a main sponsor of resolution 56/115 on the "Implementation of the World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons: Towards a Society For All In the 21st Century."