Students and multisectoral groups gathered in front of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) main office on May 10 in protest of alleged electoral fraud.
Electoral irregularities during election day led them to denounce the lead of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte in the partial and unofficial count. Marcos and Duterte led the presidential and vice presidential race with 31 million votes for both as of May 13.
According to an estimate from Kontra Daya, an election watchdog, electoral issues affected 1.1 million Filipino voters on May 9.
The organization confirmed 1,370 out of 4,000 reports of vote counting machine (VCM) failures, illegal campaigning, vote-buying, and red-tagging. COMELEC issued 1,800 VCM breakdowns, the highest in recent poll history.
“Pinoprotesta namin ang malawak at rampant electoral fraud na nag-allow sa pagte-take sit ng mga Marcos at Duterte, mga anak ng diktador sa Malacañang,” University of the Philippines (UP) Student Regent Renee Co said in an interview with AlterMidya. She then urged fellow UP students to join the mobilizations.
The country’s “big four” universities — UP, Ateneo de Manila University, University of Sto. Tomas, and De La Salle University — participated in an academic walkout in solidarity with the protests against the possible return of Marcos and Duterte dynasties to executive powers.
The mass mobilization continued in a protest march from COMELEC’s main office to Liwasang Bonifacio, where another program was held.
The group in Liwasang Bonifacio, later on called “Kampuhan Kontra Daya,” held a three-day long peaceful rally with cultural performances and discussions on Martial Law atrocities.
Organizations such as Kabataan Partylist, Student Christian Movement of the Philippines, UP Solidaridad, Anakbayan, Kilusang Mayo Uno, Volunteers for Leni Robredo, and many more joined the said event.
Hundreds also participated in several electoral fraud protests in different areas of the country, such as in Baguio, Naga, Angeles, Dumaguete, and Legazpi.
“The public’s condemnation is welcome, we should accept it,” COMELEC Commissioner George Garcia said in a May 11 interview with Rappler.
In a statement with ABS-CBN News, acting COMELEC Spokesperson Atty. Rex Laudiangco urged protestors to file a formal complaint on these electoral grievances for investigation to occur, instead of rallying.
“I’m not questioning the credibility of the election itself. I think we can say that the election was conducted properly,” veteran Filipino journalist and a co-founder of VERA Files Ellen Tordesillas said in an interview with Poynter.
“What the problem was when the people went to the polls yesterday was that they were not making informed decisions; they were making ‘disinformed’ decisions,” she said.
Tordesillas pertained to the rampant spread of fake news that historically revises the Marcoses in good light which caused Filipinos to perceive the Martial Law as the “golden years” of Philippine history.
According to the Rappler report of the May 11 COMELEC data, Robredo received zero votes from 579 precincts nationwide and Marcos from 75 precincts.
During the 2016 election, Robredo received zero votes from 179 precincts and Marcos from 133 in the vice presidential race.
COMELEC declared failure of elections in 14 barangays in Lanao Del Sur due to election-related violence. Special elections will be administered on May 12 and 15 in such areas.
As of May 13, COMELEC stopped transmission at 98.35% electoral returns electronically to different media outlets.
In the May 14 update, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting’s (PPCRV) manual count of 30,727 election returns shows 98.39% match on electronically transmitted results, finding 240 mismatched.
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