The Senate committee on constitutional amendments, revisions of codes and laws is ready to report out a bill that would allow the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to conduct early voting during national elections.

Sen. Francis Escudero, chairman of the committee, said he is ready to present the committee report for Senate Bill No. 2972 which seeks to amend the Omnibus Election Code to allow early voting in so-called “election hot spots” or areas where there is a threat of violence or terrorism.

The bill was introduced by Sen. Richard Gordon with the goal “principally to increase participation and relieve congestion of polling stations on election day as expanding voting to more than one day can reduce the risk of overworked poll workers making mistakes, and in the scenario of automated elections, the risk of having broken automated election machines.”

Escudero said he is hoping the bill would be ratified before Congress goes into a recess in preparation for the campaign period.

The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is included in the areas where the proposal for early elections is being pushed.

“I think it’s a simple enough bill. It’s an open and shut bill. Either (the senators) want it or they don’t want it. I hope majority of the senators will support this bill,” Escudero told reporters in an interview after the committee hearing.

The technical working group (TWG), which includes Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal and director Ferdinand Rafanan, are drafting the guidelines of the measure for implementation.

The Comelec is also asked to consider the possibility of opening the early voting to certain sectors that might be disenfranchised as a result of their peculiar situation and line of work.

Escudero said that since the Comelec is about to enter the 90-day period for national officials, a transitory provision may well be provided for it to effectively conduct an advanced voting in the upcoming May, 2010 elections.

But in subsequent elections, the Comelec is mandated to formally announce where it will hold advanced polls 150 days before the date of election to give ample notice to the local government executives and voters of the areas that would be covered by early voting.

The Comelec has the authority to delegate the areas where early voting would be held but Escudero said the committee has put a cap on the measure.

“Comelec has been delegated with authority (to name the areas for early voting) but we have set a criteria and a cap. Baka naman mamaya kasi, halos kalahati ng Pilipinaas ilagay sa early voting. That cannot be,” Escudero said.

“It is clear that the Comelec cannot do and is still trying to do everything to allocate the necessary steps and resources to guard every place in the country. But they need to be given leeway, power and chance to concentrate their resources in areas that need concentration as, in our past experience, had never had clean, honest and fair elections,” he said.