Superintendents of different operating prisons and penal farms were directed by Bureau of Corrections Director General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr. to ensure the orderly and peaceful conduct of elections in their areas of jurisdiction on 12 May.

Based on their data, at least 4,125 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) from various OPPFs are qualified to vote on Election Day, Catapang said.

Of this number, 2,135 PDLs are confined at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, 924 at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, 421 at Leyte Regional Prison, 290 at San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga del Sur, 140 at Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, 123 at the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City, and 92 at CIW-Mindanao.

Catapang stated that in December last year, the BuCor signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) to promote and implement an inclusive voting environment for PDLs in the upcoming 2025 National and Local Elections (NLE), Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE), and subsequent elections.

Qualified PDLs who are allowed to register and vote include: those confined in jail or formally charged for any crime and awaiting/undergoing trial; those serving a sentence of imprisonment for less than one year; and those whose conviction of a crime involving disloyalty to the duly constituted government—such as rebellion, sedition, violation of firearms laws, or any crime against national security—is on appeal.