Group questions constitutionality of Comelec's ‘No Bio, No Boto’ before SC 

A coalition of youth groups on Wednesday questioned the constitutionality of the “No Bio, No Boto” policy of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) before the Supreme Court.

 

According to Kabataan party-list, the policy would deprive more than three million registered voters without biometrics of their right to participate in the upcoming 2016 national and local elections.

 

In its 32-page petition for certiorari and prohibition, the group asked the Supreme Court to exercise its power of judicial review regarding Republic Act No. 10367 or the Act providing for mandatory biometrics voter registration.

 

The party-list also sought for the nullification of Comelec Resolution No. 9721, dated June 26, 2013, Resolution No. 9863, dated April 1, 2014, and Resolution No. 10013, all related to deactivation of voter registration records in the May 2016 national and local elections.

 

The petitioners, led by Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, said the law and the related Comelec resolutions are unconstitutional as they impose an additional requirement for voters— the need to have their biometrics taken— to be able to exercise their right to suffrage. 

 

The new requisite, they said, violates Article V, Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution, which states that “[n]o literacy, property, or other substantive requirement shall be imposed on the exercise of suffrage.”

 

“In contravention of the above-stated constitutional provision, Republic Act No. 10367 and its implementing regulations imposed an additional substantive requirement for all voters, both old and new registrants, to submit for mandatory biometrics validation or risk being deactivated or removed from the precinct book of voters, thus effectively barring them from the exercise of their right to vote,” they said.

 

The youth group also argued that RA 10367 violates due process and goes against the prospective application of laws since the bulk of those who were required to have their biometrics taken were voters with existing active records.

 

“[T]he biometrics validation gravely violates due process as it is an unreasonable deprivation of the constitutional right to vote for millions of Filipinos who have failed to register their biometric information despite existing and active registration – in effect a voter’s re-registration – for various reasons whether personal or institutional,” they said.

 

With the Comelec’s disclosure that over 3 million voters remain without biometrics data as of Sept. 30, Kabataan party-list said it is clear that close to 6 percent of the estimated 52.2 million registered voters for the upcoming polls will be unable to vote.

 

It also argued that registered voters without biometrics data “stand to illegally lose their right of suffrage in the May 9, 2016 national and local elections without the benefit of due process due to the implementation of an additional requirement that is patently unconstitutional.”

 

Citing RA 10367, the Comelec said it will deactivate voters who failed to have their biometrics taken by Oct. 31, the deadline for the nationwide voter registration. However, the poll body said voters whose biometrics were either corrupted or incomplete will still be allowed to vote. —KBK, GMA News