Article 65p. 65

OMNIBUS ELECTION CODE ELECTION LAWS, RULES AND PROCEDURES

used for voting and other election related purposes as

well as for legitimate research needs.

The total number of voters in the permanent list shall

be the basis for the printing of the official ballots by the

Commission.

Section 44. Reassignment of Election Officers. No

Election Officer shall hold office in a particular city or

municipality for more than four (4) years. Any election

officer who, either at the time of the approval of this Act

or subsequent thereto, has served for at least four (4)

years

in

a

particular

city

or

municipality

shall

automatically be reassigned by the Commission to a new

station outside the original congressional district.

Section 45. Election Offenses. — The following shall

be considered election offenses under this Act:

a) to deliver, hand over, entrust or give, directly or

indirectly, his voter’s identification card to another in

consideration of money or other benefit of promise; or

take or accept such voter’s identification card, directly or

indirectly, by giving or causing the giving or money or

other benefit or making or causing the making of a

promise therefore;

b) to fail, without cause, to post or give any of the

notices or to make any of the reports re-acquired under

this Act;

c)

to

issue

or

cause

the

issuance

of

a

voter’s

identification

number

or

to

cancel

or

cause

the

cancellation thereof in violation of the provisions of this

Act; or to refuse the issuance of registered voters their

voter’s identification card;

d) to accept an appointment, to assume office and to

actually serve as a member of the Election Registration

Board

although

ineligible

thereto,

to

appoint

such

ineligible person knowing him to be ineligible;

e) to interfere with, impede, abscond for purpose of

gain or to prevent the installation or use of computers

and devices and the processing, storage, generation, and

transmission of registration data or information;

f) to gain, cause access to use, alter, destroy, or

disclose any computer data, program, system software,

network,

or

any

computer-related

devices,

facilities,

hardware

or

equipment,

whether

classified

or

declassified;

g) failure to provide certified voters and deactivated

voters list to candidates and heads of representatives of

political parties upon written request as provided in

Section 30 hereof;

h) failure to include the approved application form for

registration of a qualified voter in the book of voters of a

particular precinct or the omission of the name of a duly

registered voter in the certified list of voters of the

precinct where he is duly, registered resulting in his

failure to cast his vote during an election, plebiscite,

referendum, initiative and/or recall. The presence of the

form or name in the book of voters or certified list of

voters in precincts other than where he is duly registered

shall not be an excuse hereof;

i) the posting of a list of voters outside or at the door

of

a precinct on the day of an election, plebiscite,

referendum, initiative and/or recall, and which list is

different in contents from the certified list of voters being

used by the Board of Election Inspectors; and

j) Violation of the provisions of this Act.

Section 46. Penalties. Any person found guilty of any

Election offense under this Act shall be punished with

imprisonment of not less than one (1) year but not more

than six (6) years and shall not be subject to probation. In

addition, the guilty party shall be sentenced to suffer

disqualification to hold public office and deprivation of

the right of suffrage. If he is a foreigner, he shall be

deported after the prison term has been served. Any

political party found guilty shall be sentenced to pay a

fine of not less than One hundred thousand pesos

(P100,000) but not more than Five hundred thousand

pesos (P500,000).

Section 47. Funding. The amount of Two billion

pesos (2,000,000,000) is hereby included in the General

Appropriations Act for the fiscal year 1997 to defray the

expenses for the registration activities.

Section

48.

Multi-partisan

Monitoring

and

Evaluation Committee. A Monitoring and Evaluation

Committee is hereby created composed of seven (7)

members to be based on party representation of the

seven (7) major political parties that fielded presidential

candidates

in

the

1992

synchronized

elections.

The

Committee

is

an

ad

hoc

body

attached

to

the

Commission

but

not

subject

to its supervision and

control.

The task of the Committee is to monitor and evaluate

the system, procedures or guidelines prepared by the

Commission for the conduct of the general registration

and the continuing system of registration in accordance

with this Act.

The Committee shall prepare two reports outlining

the findings and recommendations for immediate action

or institution of corrective measures by the Commission

and/or Congress. The first report shall be submitted to the

Commission and Congress three (3) months before the

holding of the general registration. The second report

shall be due at the end of the year on the initial

implementation of the system of continuing registration.

The

amount

not

less

than

Fifty

million

pesos

(P50,000,000) but not more than One hundred million

pesos (P100,000,000) is hereby allocated from the Two

billion pesos (P2,000,000,000) allocation provided in the

preceding section for the operations of the Committee.

This amount shall be held in trust by the Commission

subject to the usual accounting and auditing procedures.

Section

49.

Rules

and

Regulations.

—

The

Commission shall promulgate the necessary rules and

regulations to implement the provisions of this Act not

later

than

ninety

(90)

days

before

the first day of

registration as provided for in this Act.

Section 50. Separability Clause. — If any part of this

Act is held invalid or unconstitutional, the other parts or

provisions hereof shall remain valid and effective.

Section 51. Repealing Clause. — All laws, decrees,

executive orders, rules and regulations inconsistent with

this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

Section 52. Effectivity. This Act shall take effect fifteen

(15)

days

after

its

publication

in

at

least

two

(2)

newspapers of general circulation.

Approved, June 11, 1996.

RA No 8295 | Proclamation of a Lone

Candidate in a Special Election

June 6, 1997

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE PROCLAMATION OF A

LONE CANDIDATE FOR ANY ELECTIVE OFFICE IN A

SPECIAL ELECTION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Be

it

enacted

by

the

Senate

and

House

of

Representatives

of

the

Philippines

in

Congress

assembled: :

Section 1. Declaration of policy . — It is hereby

declared the policy of the State to provide the people

with

adequate

and

constant

governance

and

representation in public affairs. Towards this end, the

State shall ensure that, as much as practicable, each and

every elective position in the executive and legislative

branches of government is occupied at all times at the

least of cost to government.

© Compiled by RGL

65 of 65