TACLOBAN CITY– A day after the May 12 midterm elections, over 200 members of poll watchdog Kontra Daya, the Makabayan bloc, and religious organizations staged protests in Manila, decrying alleged voting irregularities and disenfranchisement.
University professor Danilo Arao, convenor of Kontra Daya, blamed the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for widespread issues, particularly errors with automated counting machines (ACMs), illegal campaigning, and voter exclusion. Arao said legal options are being considered.
Pastor Irma Balaba of the Promotion of Church People’s Response criticized the automated system as a tool for “automated cheating,” calling for a return to manual vote counting to restore public trust.
A final report from watchdog Vote Report PH confirmed ACM problems as the top complaint, making up 50% of the issues logged, followed by disenfranchisement and red-tagging of progressive candidates.
Sanlakas secretary-general Atty. Aaron Pedrosa urged COMELEC to take firm action, including prosecuting vote-buying and conducting an audit to preserve electoral integrity.
Despite these concerns, Comelec chair George Erwin Garcia claimed the 2025 polls were among the most peaceful, citing only 44 cases of election-related violence—down from 128 in 2019.
Meanwhile, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas lamented that money, lies, and blood tainted the elections. “No elections are perfect. We keep on hoping,” he said.
The European Union Election Observation Mission, invited by the Philippine government, criticized its limited access to polling precincts, saying it hampered their ability to observe the process meaningfully.
(RONALD O. REYES)
