INQUIRER FILE PHOTO 2018
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Unvaccinated voters can still cast their ballots in the upcoming May 2022 elections, the Commission on Elections in Cebu (Comelec Cebu) reported.
However, voters showing symptoms of COVID-19 will be placed in a separate precinct, isolated from the regular voters.
“Dili mana pwede kay imong Right of Suffrage guaranteed na sa atong Constitution. And as a voter, wala pod nang qualification nga naa sa Constitution ug naa sa balaod nga kinahanglan bakunado ka,” said lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, Provincial Elections Supervisor of Comelec-Cebu.
(The Right of Suffrage is guaranteed in the Constitutions. And as a voter, the Constitution does not provide the qualification that one should be vaccinated in order to vote.)
But Castillano said that protocols are being set in case voters would show up exhibiting signs of the infection during election day.
The top Comelec Cebu official said personnel deployed on elections day, which will fall on May 9, 2022, are tasked to check the health status of voters, such as their body temperatures, before entering their assigned polling place.
“Naa ta’y isolated polling place. Kay inig sulod nimo sa voting center, kanang eskwelahan before ka makasulod, kuhaan ka og temperature,” said Castillano.
“So, kung molabaw ka sa 37.5 adto ka ibutang sa isolation polling place… Naa sad ta’y electoral board, naay mo assist nimo ngadto adto lang ka pa botaron,” he added.
(Those with temperatures esceeding 37.5 will be assigned to cast their votes at our isolation polling place. We have an electoral board that will assist these voters at their designated polling place.)
Cebu, including the three independent cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, and Mandaue, is the country’s most vote-rich province.
Based on the latest data from Comelec, the number of eligible voters for the polls in 2022 already reached 3,310,339.
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/ dcb