Soc. Sci. 2 Phil.

Government and
Constitution
Article V

SUFFRAGE

SECTION 1
Suffrage may be exercised by all citizens
of the Philippines not otherwise disqualified
by law, who are at least eighteen years of
age, and who shall have resided in the
Philippines for at least one year and in the
place wherein they propose to vote for at
least six months immediately preceding the
election. No literacy, property, or other
substantive requirement shall be imposed
on the exercise of suffrage.

Meaning of Suffrage
Suffrage is the right and obligation
to vote of qualified citizens in the
election of certain national and local
officers of the government and in the
decision of public questions submitted
to the people.

Nature of Suffrage
A mere privilege. Suffrage is not a natural
right of the citizens but merely a privilege to
be given or withheld by the law making
power subject to constitutional limitations.
A political right. Suffrage enables every
citizen to participate in the process of
government to assure that it can truly be
said to derive its powers from the consent
of the governed. The principle is that of one
man, one vote.

Scope of Suffrage
1.Election. It is the means by which the
people choose their officials for definite
and fixed periods and to whom they
entrust, for the time being as their
representatives, the exercise of powers
of government;
2.Plebiscite. It is the name given to a
vote of the people expressing their
choice for or against a proposed law or
enactment submitted to them.

3.Referendum. It is the submission of a

law or part thereof passed by the national
or local legislative body to the voting
citizens of a country for their ratification or
rejection.
4.Initiative. It is the process whereby the
people directly propose and enact laws.
5.Recall. It is a method by which a public
officer may be removed from office during
his tenure or before the expiration of his
term by a vote of the people after
registration of a petition signed by a
required percentage of the qualified voters.

Qualification of Voters

A citizen (male or female) of the Phil.;

Not otherwise disqualified by law;
At least eighteen (18) years of age; and
Have resided in the Phil. for at least one
(1) year and in the place wherein he
proposes to vote for at least six (6)
months preceding the election.

Age Qualification
Minimum age
Basis
No maximum age limit

Residence Qualification
Period of residence
Importance

Persons Disqualified
to Vote

Any person who has been sentenced by final

judgment to suffer imprisonment for not less
than one (1) year, but such person shall
automatically require to vote upon expiration
of five (5) years after service of sentence.

Any person who has been adjudged by

final judgment by competent court or
tribunal of having committed any crime
disloyalty to the duly constituted
government.

Insane or incompetent persons as

declared by competent authority.

Study
Arguments Justifying the Lowering of
Voting Age From 21 to 18
Arguments justifying removal of literacy
requirement
Prohibition of Property Requirement
Prohibition
of
other
substantive
requirements such as education, sex and
taxpaying ability.
Arguments infavor and contrary to
compulsary suffrage.

SECTION 2
The congress shall provide a system for
securing the secrecy and sanctity of the
ballot as well as a system for absentee
voting by qualified Filipinos abroad.
The Congress shall also design a
procedure for the disabled and the illiterates
to vote without the assistance of other
persons. Until then, they shall be allowed to
vote under existing laws and such rules as
the Commission on Elections may
promulgate to protect the secrecy of the

System for securing the secrecy and

sanctity of the ballot

Voting by the disabled and illiterates

Congress will have to enact a law
prescribing procedures that will enable
the disabled and the illiterates to secretly
cast their ballots without requiring the
assistance of other persons.
Until Congress provides for the
appropriate procedure, they shall be
allowed to vote under the existing law
and such rules as the Commission on
Election may promulgate to protect the
secrecy of the ballot.

System for absentee voting by

qualified Filipinos abroad.
Section 2 extends the right of
suffrage even to Filipinos abroad
provided they possess all the
qualifications mentioned therein and
none of the disqualifications provided
by law.

What law should govern the

registration of overseas absentee
voters?
Republic Act No. 9189 or the Overseas
Absentee Voting Act of 2003 governs the
registration of an overseas absentee voter. It
provides for the disqualification of voting,
requirements or registration, and procedure
for registration.

The existence of the right of suffrage

is a threshold for the preservation and
enjoyment of all other rights that it
ought to be considered as one of the
most sacred parts of the constitution.

The right to vote is among the most important

and sacred of the freedoms inherent in a
democratic society and one which must be most
vigilantly guarded if a people desires to
maintain
through
self-government
for
themselves and their posterity a genuinely
functioning democracy in which the individual
may, in accordance with law, have a voice in the
form of his government and in the choice of the
people who will run that government for him.
Phil. Supreme Court
Geronimo v. Ramos, et al.

END!