Congress enacted a law providing for mandatory biometrics voter registration. The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) then issued resolutions implementing said law and further providing that registered voters who fail to submit their biometrics for validation by the last day of filing of application for registration for the May 2025 elections shall be deactivated. Consequently, those who fail to be validated, those without biometrics data, or those who have incomplete biometrics data will be deactivated and shall not be allowed to vote. A petition for certiorari and prohibition was filed before the Supreme Court assailing the constitutionality of the law and the COMELEC resolutions, on the ground that biometrics validation constitutes an additional and substantial qualification not contemplated by the 1987 Constitution, because non- compliance therewith results in voter deactivation. Will the petition prosper? Explain briefly.
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No, the petition will not prosper. Under Constitutional Law, voter registration is not a qualification for suffrage, but a procedural requirement to determine eligibility. Mandatory biometrics validation is a procedural
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Will the petition assailing mandatory biometrics voter registration and voter deactivation prosper?
Mandatory biometrics registration is a valid procedural regulation enacted pursuant to state power to secure clean voter rolls.
Under Article V, Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution, which requirement is explicitly prohibited for the exercise of suffrage?
Article V, Section 1 of the Constitution explicitly prohibits imposing literacy, property, or other substantive qualifications for voting.
What is the legal character of voter registration under Philippine constitutional law?
Voter registration is not a constitutional qualification for suffrage, but a procedural mechanism to verify voter eligibility.
Why does deactivating voters without biometrics data not violate the right of suffrage?
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Under Article V, Section 2 of the Constitution, what power is expressly granted to Congress regarding elections?
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1. Right Of Suffrage
Under Article V, Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution, the right of 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. Constitutional qualifications are exclusive, and Congress cannot add or subtract substantive qualifications for voting.
2. Procedural Registration System
Article V, Section 2 of the 1987 Constitution mandates Congress to provide a system for securing the secrecy and sanctity of the ballot, as well as a system for the registration of voters. Registration is not a substantive qualification for the exercise of the right of suffrage, but a procedural condition and regulatory mechanism to establish an individual's eligibility to vote. Mandatory biometrics registration falls within the legislative power to regulate elections. Biometrics capture acts as a procedural tool to verify voter identity and ensure clean and credible electoral rolls.
3. Biometrics Validation Deactivation
Deactivation of voters who fail to submit biometrics data does not constitute an unconstitutional restriction or an additional substantive qualification for voting. Rather, deactivation serves as a reasonable administrative remedy to sanitize voter lists by removing double, phantom, or fictitious registrants. The state validly exercises police power in mandating biometrics validation to safeguard election integrity. Affected voters retain the procedural opportunity to reactivate their registration status upon compliance with validation requirements, preserving their constitutional right to vote once identity verification is completed.