MANILA — Indigenous peoples (IPs) and persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) will also be given the chance to vote in next year’s elections using the automated counting machines (ACM), Commission on Elections Chairman George Erwin Garcia said Monday.

Interviewed on the sidelines of the PDLikha (Pag-asa dala ng paglikha) event — an exhibit of art from six jail facilities in the country — Garcia said that they are looking at assigning ACMs to IP communities and to jail facilities with at least 50 voters, so everyone will get to experience automated voting.

“Susubukan natin ngayon dahil may sobra naman tayo sa marerentahan natin... Dahil  yung iba naman naka-standby lang kung sakaling magka-aberya yung makina, baka pupuwede na nating magamit sa PDLs natin,” Garcia said.

(Since we have excess leased ACMs, on standby, we are looking at giving PDLs access to these machines)

Still, Garcia admitted that voter education initiatives for PDLs will be limited to COMELEC personnel visiting jail facilities and teaching them about the importance of responsible voting.

Candidates are barred from campaigning in jail facilities for “security reasons,” he stressed.

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This early, the COMELEC has already approved the assignment of one ACM in Sitio Kapihan, which serves as home to Socorro Bayanihan Services Incorporated (SBSI) members.

Garcia said that among the indigenous people’s communities to be given an ACM are those in Palawan province and in Mindoro Oriental, Bulacan, Pampanga, Bukidnon and some other parts of Mindanao.

“Inatasan natin yung Vulnerable Sectors Office, yung mga kababayan natin na mga katutubo na naglalakad ng milya o kilometro para lang makaboto... ang sabi natin baka pupwedeng dalhin na yung makina sa mismong lugar,” Garcia said.

(We have already instructed our Vulnerable Sectors Office — our IPs sometimes have to walk many kilometers to vote, so we said maybe we can bring the machines to them)

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Garcia and other COMELEC officials opened Monday, the PDLikha (Pag-asa Dala ng Paglikha) art exhibit which showcases 80 paintings and other art pieces of PDLs from the Bureau of Corrections in Muntinlupa; Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) Parañaque City Jail Female Dorm; Pasay City Jail Male Dorm and BJMP Mandaluyong City Jail Female Dorm.

Proceeds of the art exhibit will go straight to the said jail facilities.

The art exhibit which is open to the public, will run from July 1 to 5, 2024.

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