Practice question
A PDL is serving a final eight-month sentence for an ordinary offense not involving disloyalty or another separate voting bar. The person otherwise satisfies electoral qualifications. Officials claim the fact of any final custodial sentence, however short, necessarily establishes Section 11(a)’s one-year threshold. Which is best?
- Eight months does not satisfy that threshold, and the quoted PDL definition includes imprisonment of less than one year
- Every sentence equals at least one year by legal fiction
- All final convictions create the same lifetime voting bar
- Only property ownership can cure an eight-month sentence
- A prison uniform itself proves citizenship is lost
Legal references
- Aguinaldo v. New Bilibid Prison, G.R. No. 221201, March 29, 2022, main resolution: https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/18/68250; main resolution, quoted Resolution 9371 Rule 1 Section 2 and judicial-review disposition.
- RA 8189: https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1996/ra_8189_1996.html; Section 11(a).
Answer this question in flashcards to review your response and continue practicing.