Bicol provinces request priority polling places for 2025 elections

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LEGAZPI CITY, Albay – Three provinces from the Bicol region requested priority polling places (PPP) for the 2025 midterm elections on May 12. 

The local government units of Albay, Catanduanes, and Camarines Sur requested the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for PPS exclusively for vulnerable voters in their provinces. 

The PPPs are special polling places for persons with disabilities (PWD), senior citizens, and pregnant women that will be located on the ground floor of the voting areas for easy access.

There are 23,368 registered senior citizens and 806 PWD voters from these provinces.

Local government units requested the establishment of PPPs in their respective areas for various reasons, including downhill and uphill locations of the voting centers that may pose risks for vulnerable voters. Additionally, some of the voting centers are multi-story, making it hard for them to access the higher floors.

Ma. Juana Valeza, regional election director of Comelec Region V, said in an interview with Rappler that this initiative was made as a part of their advocacy in giving not just the regular voters but also the members of the vulnerable sector the ideal voting experience.

“We will be having makeshift tents or separate rooms na exclusive sa kanila para di na sila pipila,” Valeza said. 

(We will be having makeshift tents or separate rooms exclusive for them so they won’t have to fall in line anymore.)

She added that although they were given priority in previous elections, it was still inconvenient for them to vote with regular voters. Hence, the special polling place request.

Despite this, Valeza assures that voting areas in provinces without PPPs — Camarines Norte, Sorsogon, and Masbate — will still give vulnerable voters priority. 

Support staff from the Comelec will stand by in these polling places to assist them during election day, especially those whose assigned precincts are located at the higher floors of the building.

For those who cannot go to their respective precincts because of their circumstances, the support staff will get their ballot and bring it to them. They will also feed the ballot to the vote-counting machines after they are done voting.

According to Valeza, Comelec Region V already communicated with senior citizen and PWD groups regarding the existence of PPPs in the upcoming elections.

Norberto Vesmonte, chairman of Visually Impaired Voice in Albay cooperative and a visually impaired voter from Gogon, Albay, is urging the Comelec to disseminate more information regarding the PPPs.

He said that none of the members of the cooperative knows about this initiative yet, although they are the ones who will benefit from it.

Vesmonte also shared his difficulties during the 2022 elections. “Last election, wala man lang sakin nag-assist na may ganiyan. So kung magkaroon ng ganiyan ngayon, mas maganda.”

(No one told me that there was something like that during the previous election. If there is something like that in this election, it would be better.)

His designated precinct was on the ground floor, but he reached the third floor looking for it because of the lack of assistance from the Comelec staff. It also became more inconvenient for him because of the rain during the previous election day. 

He suggests that the Comelec should have a more visible notices and active assistance for visually impaired voters like him so they can easily find the location of the special polling place.

Aside from the PPS, vulnerable voters will have an early voting schedule exclusive to them from 5 am to 7 am on May 12.

Hershey Juan is a third-year journalism student from Bicol University. She is currently a public relations staff member of The Bicol Universitarian and an Aries Rufo Fellowship candidate from April to May 2025.