Inserting Section 6-A to and Amending Section 98 of 1978 Election Code

January 26, 1980

PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1668

PROVIDING A NEW SECTION TO BE INSERTED BETWEEN SECTIONS 6 AND 7 TO BE KNOWN AS "SECTION 6-A" OF THE 1978 ELECTION CODE AND AMENDING SECTION 98 THEREOF FOR THE PURPOSE OF ENSURING THAT THE PARTICIPATION OF VOTERS ILLEGALLY REGISTERED SHALL NOT PERVERT THE TRUE RESULT OF THE ELECTION

WHEREAS, the holding of clean and honest elections depends in large measure on the integrity of the lists of voters;

WHEREAS, the Commission on Elections has reported grave violations of the registration law, to such extent that unless the Commission is empowered to take drastic measures immediately to correct these irregularities, the exercise of suffrage may not serve its purpose; and

WHEREAS, large scale irregularities in the registration of voters may not be effectively corrected through exclusion proceedings.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby order and decree:

SECTION 1. Postponement or suspension of election. — A new section to be known as "Section 6-A" shall be inserted between Section 6 and 7 of the 1978 Election Code and shall read as follows: casia

"Sec. 6-A. Postponement or suspension of election. — Whenever the Commission finds that rampant irregularities have been committed in the preparation of the book of voters through fraud, bribery, forgery, impersonation, intimidation, force or any other similar irregularity resulting in a large increase in the number of registered voters in said voting center which is statistically improbable, and as a consequence thereof, the holding of a free, orderly and honest election shall become impossible in said voting center, the Commission may, after summary verification, order the postponement or suspension of the election in said voting center until such time as it may deem necessary to enable it to make proper recourse to purge spurious or illegally registered voters from the list of voters."

SECTION 2. Section 98 of the 1978 Election Code is hereby amended to read as follows: aisa dc

"Sec. 98. Annulment of permanent list of voters. — Any book of voters not prepared in accordance with the provisions of this Code or the preparation of which has been effected with fraud, bribery, forgery, impersonation; intimidation, force, or any other similar irregularity may, MOTU PROPRIO or upon verified petition of any voter or election registrar, or duly registered or ACCREDITED political party, group or aggrupation, be annulled THROUGH SUMMARY PROCEEDINGS, by the Commission."

SECTION 3. Effectivity. — This Decree shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 26th day of January, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty.

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 76 No. 5, 708-1 Supp., on February 4, 1980.