No failure of elections declared so far, says Comelec spox

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday announced it has so far not announced a failure of elections in any areas despite the reports of violence, malfunctioning vote counting machines (VCMs), and other issues during the May 9, 2022 elections.

“As of now none yet, but rest assured 'pag mayroong declaration ang Commission en banc you will be the first to hear from us,” acting spokesperson Rex Laudiangco said in a news briefing.

On election day, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) recorded at least 15 incidents of election-related violence

Comelec chairman Saidamen Pangarungan said these incidents will be forwarded to the en banc and that the poll body "might" take action on the cases.

He said that the en banc may only consider declaring a failure of voting elections in some centers, not necessarily an entire town, including potentially in Malabang, Lanao del Sur where a fatal shooting incident occurred.

Meanwhile, more than 1,800 VCMs have also malfunctioned on election day. However, the poll body said all these issues have been “resolved.”

The poll body also earlier postponed the start of overseas voting in Shanghai due to the COVID-19 surge.

Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo said there were around 1,600 Filipino voters in the city.

Alleged tearing of shaded ballots

Laudiangco said that they are investigating reports of the viral video allegedly showing shaded ballots being torn by men in police uniforms in Cotabato.

“In fact the operations group of the Comelec are already in the command center and they are digging into this issue. Ito ay iimbestigahan namin (We are investigating this) and we will report to you the eventualities. Ang unang indication of these reports are yet to be vetted,” he said.

“Parang ang nangyari po yata they are tearing the unused ballots but perhaps spoiled ballot po yata kasi yung first part lang po yung may shade, the succeeding parts hindi na nakita (What happened is they are tearing up the unused ballots but perhaps spoiled ballot since only the first had the shaded part then the succeeding parts were not seen). But then this will be investigated thoroughly and we will be reporting. We will be transparent about this,” he added.

Laudiangco said that if the individuals in the video intended to cheat, they would not put it on video.

“Kasi kung titignan niyo po kung mandaraya sila kitang kita na vinivideo sila. Wala pong pagtago sa dalawang police, wala pong hesitation sa kanila parang ginagawa lang nila punitin natin hindi ganyan nagtuturuan pa nga po,” he said.

Laudiangco said that Comelec Commissioner George Garcia will sign the referral or endorsement of the issue to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

“Yung po sa NBI referral will be done today. Commissioner [George] Garcia will be signing the referral and endorsement,” he added.

Meanwhile, Garcia said that they are hoping that they will be able to finish early the canvassing of votes in order to proclaim winning senators and party-list groups this week for the May 9 national elections.

“We are hoping we can finish everything, for example by Saturday we can have the proclamation by Sunday,” he said.

“What will hinder perhaps are only certain local problems, especially local politics," he added.

Comelec commissioner Marlon Casquejo said Tuesday that the poll body expects to proclaim winning senators and party-list groups this week.

Sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), the Comelec earlier touted the fast pace of the transmission of election results, noting that it may be the fastest since the country started conducting automated elections.

The NBOC will canvass the votes and proclaim the winning senatorial candidates and party-list groups.—LDF, GMA News