On July 19, 2010, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), led by Director Rosendo Dial, presented a Plaque of Appreciation to May Gladys Butoy, IFES Philippines’ Project Officer for the Vulnerable Sector Project funded by the British Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO), for her contributions to “the realization of the exercise of the right to suffrage of inmates nationwide, which was carved in the annals of Philippine history during the May 2010 national and local elections.”

Ms. Butoy was instrumental in coordinating the work of several entities involved in this project, including IFES’, the Commission on Human Rights in the Philippines (CHR), the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and leading NGOs such as Task Force 2010, IPER and supporting partners, to ensure that detainees were able to exercise their right to suffrage.

Under Philippine law, detainees include individuals who await trial and judgment while incarcerated. Because detainees are presumed innocent until proven guilty in the court of law, the Philippine Constitution and various international human rights instruments maintain that unless otherwise disqualified by law, detainees should be able to equitably and freely exercise their right to suffrage - to register and vote. Unfortunately, legal impediments limiting their access to voter registration sites, together with their incarceration, have deprived detainees from exercising their right to suffrage.

During the award ceremony, Ms. Butoy was especially praised for her efforts in conducting voter education for detainees, drafting the Implementing Rules and Regulation on Detainee-Voting, and for facilitating a workshop during the Inter-Agency Assessment of Detainee Voting held on June 23, 2010. Other members of the Inter-agency Technical Working Group were also recognized in the ceremonies held in the BJMP national headquarters.