Senatorial candidate Sonny Matula on Monday, May 9, reminded employees that it is their right to vote and that they should report to the Federation of Free Workers (FFW), where he is president, if their employers tried to stop them from doing so.

“Ang pagboto ay isang constitutional right at sino mang mga taong namimilit na hindi sila bumoto ay iligal na gawain at may penalty po iyan sa ilalim ng batas (Voting is a constitutional right and whoever persuades you not to vote is illegal and there’s a penalty under the law),” he said in a videotaped message.

All Filipinos 18 years old and above and registered voters have the right to vote, and this must be allowed by their employers, Matula added.

“Yan po ay isang iligal na order o direktiba ng employer kaya pwede po hindi sundin ng mga empleyado (That is an illegal order or directive of the employer, so employees can choose not to follow),” the senatorial aspirant said of employers who are preventing their employees from going to polling precincts.

Referred to as Defender of the Workers, Matula asked employees to reach out to the FFW if they experience their voting rights being curtailed.

A labor lawyer who has been serving ordinary workers for decades, he promised to help Filipinos exercise their rights to suffrage.

Matula is running under the ticket of Vice President Leni Robredo and her running mate Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan.

Earlier, the labor leader cast his vote in Biñan, Laguna.