Archive - PHL Vote 2016

[metaslider id=33666] Text and photos by MARIA FEONA IMPERIAL WHAT are the features of an accessible polling place (APP) for voters with disabilities? The Commission on Elections on Saturday set up the Pura V. Kalaw Elementary School in Cubao, Quezon City as a mockup accessible precinct to show how an APP for the 2016 presidential elections

By MARIA FEONA IMPERIAL and LALA ORDENES DESPITE efforts of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and civil society to get eligible persons with disabilities to register, vote and do it with ease, the number of registered voters with disabilities for the May elections has slipped 14 percent from the 2013 polls. Comelec’s “No Bio, No

By MARIA FEONA IMPERIAL A week before official campaign period kicks off, the Commission on Elections has warned candidates to comply with rules on posting campaign materials – else be shamed in public and be sanctioned for committing an election offense. The Comelec signed on Tuesday an agreement with the Department of Public Works and

By MARIA FEONA IMPERIAL WHOM should you vote for this coming election? Amid the plethora of surveys and political ads before the official campaign period, a nationwide group of electoral reform advocates has called on voters to choose candidates based on their stand on issues and the qualities they possess. Prompted by what it described

By MARIA FEONA IMPERIAL BARELY a hundred days before this year’s polls, the Commission on Elections has yet to settle issues of vote counting machines (VCMs) being prone to electoral fraud, poll watchdogs say. To boost public confidence, the Comelec demonstrated Monday four security features in its VCMs. These were not used in the Precinct

  By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS OF the eight presidential candidates that the Commission on Elections approved to be listed in the ballots for the May 9, 2016 elections, two are facing disqualification cases: Grace Poe and Rodrigo Duterte. The eight names that Comelec said would be in the ballots are:  Jojo Binay of the United

By MARIA FEONA IMPERIAL THE clamor to include “None of the above” as one of the options in the official ballot for the 2016 polls may sound hilarious, but it only expresses the blatant frustration of the voting populace, a lawyer said on Thursday. “It’s like another way of saying, ‘Wala na bang iba’ (isn’t

By MARIA FEONA IMPERIAL PLATFORMS over personalities. Four months before the elections, a poll watchdog has urged candidates, voters and key stakeholders in the 2016 presidential elections to raise the level of discourse from personality-driven politics to an issue-based exercise. “The electoral players seem to be forgetting a basic fact: that the elections are about

  By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS THE “Eliminate Grace Poe” from the presidential race crusade has benefitted Vice President Jejomar Binay who has regained the lead in the latest survey of candidates for president in the 2016 elections by the Social Weather Stations. Liberal Party standard bearer Mar Roxas, whose allies in the Commission on Election

By MARIA FEONA IMPERIAL CANDIDATES for the presidency and vice presidency will not be compelled to attend the nationwide debates the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is organizing starting next month, but the poll body says non-attendance is a message in itself. The debates will not only reveal how candidates fare in their specific fields, but

By MARIA FEONA IMPERIAL THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is proposing stricter measures on the posting and airing of political advertisements as well as the tracking of its donors as part of the efforts to make the 2016 elections transparent and fair. Candidates in the May 9 elections may be required to submit a written

By VERLIE Q. RETULIN MALL voting may provide ease and convenience to persons with disabilities (PWDs) and senior citizens, but it is not the proper solution to address accessibility problems, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chair Andres Bautista said on Monday. During the second public hearing on the transfer of certain polling precincts to malls, Bautista

By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS IF  Pres. Aquino believes the strategy that if Mar Roxas’  lawyers in Comelec succeeds in eliminating  Grace Poe from the presidential race, the presidency would be  an easy clinch for his anointed, he is dreaming. If the fight is three-way – Rodrigo Duterte, Jojo Binay and Roxas, Duterte will win. If

By MARIA FEONA IMPERIAL        A newly formed multi-sectoral election watchdog has vowed to monitor the level of inclusion of persons with disabilities (PWDs) not only on polling day itself but also during the government’s preparations for the 2016 elections. Ensuring the accessibility of polling places and holding PWD-sensitivity trainings are part of

By Ellen T. Tordesillas Living up to his macho image of a crime buster that discriminates no one, in Tagalog, “walang sinasanto,” Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte took on the well-loved Pope Francis whose arrival in the Philippines last January caused him to be stuck in traffic he had to pee in his car. Last

By JAKE SORIANO Early and adequate information dissemination about the planned mall voting next year would be key to its success. This was what persons with disabilities (PWDs) told the Commission on Elections (Comelec) during a public consultation Friday, while expressing general support for the initiative. “The general feeling of persons with disabilities is that

  By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS THE May 2016 elections is now more fun with the entry of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in the race. Last Monday, Duterte, after months of flip flopping – even writing an open letter last Oct. 12 saying, “The country does not need me” – he declared last weekend in

  By PROCOPIO RESABAL, JR  TAGBILARAN, Bohol – Vice presidential aspirant Leni Robredo has found inspiration in the late president Carlos P. Garcia, whose political life she describes as one designed by destiny, the same situation she finds herself in. “After listening to the life story of President Garcia this morning … hindi mo talaga