DAVAO CITY (May 13) — At least 804 Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL) in Davao Region cast their votes for candidates running for the national office inside the detention facility of Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) 11 , under tight security.
“The Comelec appointed special election board for the precincts that was established inside the jail facilities,” BJMP 11 spokesperson Jail Insp. Edo Lobenia said in a statement.
Lobenia said all personnel of BJMP 11 had already been put on the red alert status since Saturday and they coordinated with the PNP and Armed Forces of the Philippines to facilitate fast, secure and safe election inside all jail facilities.
The Special Tactics and Response Team (STAR), elite tactical unit of BJMP Davao was deployed in all the detention facilities in the Davao Region to secure election activities.
AN inspecting team inspecting team was also deployed to all jail units in the Davao Region to oversee and supervise the actual voting in the facilities.|
“In actual fact, our national headquarters and regional office had created ‘BJMP Task Force Halalan 2019’ that had established national and regional command centers to properly address issues, concerns and real-time monitoring of jail facilities during the election,” Lobenia added.
The BJMP 11 has 1,090 PDL registered voters but only 804 PDL were able to vote due double entry, name discrepancy and some opted to waive their right.
” The said exercise of suffrage for the detainees had been done for the fourth time already. The first was during the 2010, 2013 and 2016 elections respectively, wherein PDL were allowed to votes inside jail facilities,” he said. –Winkle Tabuclao/NewsLine.ph
