De lima seeks furlough to vote on May 13
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2019 10:16:02 +0000
DETAINED Sen. Leila de Lima asked the Muntinlupa court handling one of her illegal drug cases to grant her time out of prison to vote during the midterm elections in May.
In an urgent urgent motion dated April 4, the opposition lawmaker sought permission to vote from the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 205 through the escorted detainee voting system in the May 13 elections, as no offsite registration for detainees were offered by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
“Movant requests that she be allowed to avail of the escorted detainee voting mechanism as provided for [by] Comelec especially since no special offsite registration for detainees was conducted in the PNP Custodial Center during the period of continuing registration of voters that could have allowed her to apply for the transfer of her voter’s registration records,” the motion read.
De Lima, a registered voter of Parañaque City, previously asked the Comelec to set up a polling center at the PNP Custodial Center, where she has been held for more than two years.
The poll body, however, denied her bid citing the Omnibus Election Code that barred the placing of polling precincts inside or within perimeters of police and military camps.
The senator’s camp assured authorities that she would shoulder all expenses for her transport from her detention facility in Camp Crame, Quezon City to Santa Rita School in Parañaque where her polling precinct was located.
Under Comelec rules, detainees may cast ballots on election day between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m.
“It is respectfully prayed of this Honorable Court that accused Leila de Lima be allowed to exercise her right to vote under the Comelec’s escorted detainee voting system on Election day,” the six-page motion read.
De Lima’s camp asked the court to set the motion for hearing on April 12.
De Lima, a vocal critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, has been detained since February 2017 over allegations that she conspired to commit and use inmates for illegal drug trading inside the New Bilibid Prison when she was Justice secretary.
The senator had launched a Senate probe on Duterte’s alleged death squad in Davao City and the government’s bloody war on drugs, from which she incurred the President’s ire. NEIL JAYSON N. SERVALLOS
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