July 17, 2015 – The Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) brainchild to tap shopping malls as polling centers in 2016 yesterday drew the support of persons with disabilities (PWDs).

Helario Supaz, PWD affairs officer of the Taguig City office, said his office supports the plan of the poll body as it would make voting more convenient for PWDs.

“Actually this is good for PWDs and senior citizens. It’s more accessible to us if you do it (voting) inside a mall,” he said in an interview at the sidelines of the satellite voter registration for PWDs and senior citizens at SM Aura in Taguig City yesterday.

Supaz lamented that many voting precincts were not PWD – friendly during the May 2013 elections.

“It’s not as accessible as before. Hopefully, next year there will be accessible polling places for PWDs and senior citizens. We are happy with this news,” he said.

A DECADE OF AVOIDING INCONVENIENCE

Among those who registered in the Taguig mall yesterday were a couple who admitted to not voting for a long time due to various difficulties.

“This initiative is very nice. I haven’t voted for 12 years while my wife hasn’t voted for 10 years, but when we heard about this (satellite registration in malls) we decided to renew our registration, so we can vote next year,” Roger Robilla, who is walking with a cane said.

70-year-old Filipino Lara, on the other hand, validated his records yesterday so that he can vote his favorite politician next year.

The special registration at selected SM Malls yesterday was in celebration of the 37th National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week.

The general public were also allowed to register during the special satellite registration although priority was given to PWDs and Senior Citizens.

The special registration was done in partnership with the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA), the Asia Foundation through the Fully Abled Nation Project, SM Supermalls and SM Cares.

NEUTRAL MALLS ONLY

Bautista, however, cited the limitations provided in the Omnibus Election Code regarding the use of private buildings as polling places.

“You cannot use a private establishment if the owner will be a candidate or the owner supports a candidate,” he said.

“We cannot use Gateway Mall or other Araneta-owned malls since Sec. (Mar) Roxas is a possible candidate. We also cannot use Starmalls because of Sen. (Cynthia) Villar,” added Bautista.

The family of Roxas owns the Gateway Mall, Ali Mall, and Farmers Plaza, while the Villars own Starmalls, which has 11 branches.

“We see that a lot of people are happy with this (mall registration). It’s like we are hitting two birds with one stone. They can register and validate their biometrics, they can even eat or shop after at the same time,” he said.

“But we won’t stop with registration only. We also want to be of help to them when its time to vote because sometimes when they go to the public schools there is a lack of facility to make it more accessible for them and that is what we are trying to address,” added Bautista.