CBCP asks Congress to uphold inmates’ rights to suffrage

THE Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care (ECPPC) of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) called on Congress to modify election laws to ensure prisoners of their right to vote.

In a press statement, the Commission lauded both COMELEC and BJMP for allowing prisoners in detention to register to exercise their constitutional right to vote in the upcoming 2010 elections.

Reiterating the Commission’s statement, ECPPC Executive Secretary Rodolfo Diamante in an interview, said the prisoners’ right of suffrage must be respected and that “the lost of this right must not form part of punishment.”

He called on the government to review election laws to guarantee that the rights to suffrage of prisoners are upheld.

The Commission likewise urged government agencies involved in electoral process to put the needed reforms in place in time for the national and local elections in May 2010.

ECPPC is the social arm of the CBCP that promotes the total human development of the prison society and works for reforms for the country’s criminal justice system.