Article 5 - Suffrage

Nature of Suffrage(2)

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.

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.

It is the process whereby the people directly propose and enact laws.

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.

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.

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

It 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.

Qualifications of Voters(4)

Scope of Suffrage(5)

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 ballot.