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Bayan Muna: ‘We are victims of massive electronic vote shaving’

International mission says elections neither free nor fair

Bayan Muna said “massive electronic vote shaving” was the main reason why it lost in the May 9, 2022 national elections, accounting for as much as 80% drop in the number of votes compared to 2019.

A winner in the last seven elections, even the topnotcher when it first ran in 2001, the party said its drop of votes from 1.117 million to just around 219,000 is “simply unbelievable and unacceptable.”

The last time Bayan Muna votes registered such a significant decrease was in the 2016 elections. From more than 946,000 in 2013, its counted votes was only 606,000 in 2016–good for a seat in Congress.

“Even at the height of red tagging, black propaganda, harassment and dirty operation against the progressive partylists by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and the Duterte regime in 2019, Bayan Muna still managed to double its votes from 606,000 to 1.117 M,” it pointed out.

Bayan Muna said it seems they was targeted since the 2019 elections by the NTF-ELCAC and the Duterte administration to “unjustly stifle the effective and progressive voice of the marginalized sectors in Congress.”

The group said it will continue to protest what it believes was a “massive fraud and terrorism” in the 2022 elections as well as continue to investigate and uncover various fraud including massive electronic cheating.

Bayan Muna mentioned massive media ads and vote buying by dynastic and rich party list candidates as other forms of cheating in the last elections.

Massive vote buying

Meanwhile, an international observers’ mission (IOM) reported that the last elections were neither free nor fair and “marred by a higher level of failure of the electronic voting system.”

Members of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) said it began its monitoring of the elections in February and its members have been in Central Luzon, the National Capital Region, Southern Luzon, Central Visayas, Western Visayas and Mindanao since the first week of April to see firsthand how the campaign and elections were held.

In its report presented last Thursday, the IOM said it also witnessed rampant vote-buying, disturbing levels of state and military orchestrated red-tagging of candidates and parties, including numerous incidents of deadly violence.

It noted that main opposition candidate Leni Robredo was strenuously  red-tagged while another presidential candidate, labor leader Leody De Guzman, was the victim of a strafing attack in Mindanao.

“Many campaign activists were arrested on false charges. Large numbers of voters were unable to cast their ballots.  Vote-buying was widespread. Many found their names were no longer on the voter roll, and many had to trust that election officials would later put their marked ballot paper through a Vote Counting Machine (VCM) because of the breakdown of the voting machines,” the group reported.

The IOM also reported election-related violations of human rights from March 15, noting the first political killings related to the elections took place in Sorsogon, Bicol Region, on January 15.

“The elections took place in the most repressive atmosphere seen since the time of dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The Duterte government has orchestrated state terror, marshalling the entire machinery of the state, including the judiciary, the military and police, the departments of education, social welfare and local government, in a war on dissent which continued through the entirety of the election campaign,” it said.

”The election is both a tragedy and farce of epic Shakespearean proportions, a farce in that the electoral charade was based on a sea of disinformation, disenfranchisement and intimidation of large swathes of the voting public,” the IOM added. # (Raymund B Villanueva)

PNP, AFP fail to stop Bayan Muna from winning

Furious campaigning by state forces and online trolls against progressive parties failed to stop Bayan Muna (BM) from gaining lost ground in yesterday’s midterm national elections.

BM is at the second spot with about 1.08 million votes as of 8:12 am today in partial and unofficial tallies by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

BM’s votes represent 4.05% of 93.6% of election results tallied by the Comelec thus far, assuring the 2001 top party list group of at least two seats in the next congress.

“Despite many reports of fraud, the Rodrigo Duterte regime cannot defeat the people’s will,” BM second nominee Ferdinand Gaite told Kodao.

Gaite was referring to partisan election activities by the Philippine National Police (PNP) aimed at discouraging voters from choosing BM and other progressive parties in yesterday’s polls.

Officers of the Manila Police District were caught distributing PNP’s official newsletter “Pulis Serbis Balita” in various polling centers yesterday containing articles maligning BM and Kabataan Party.

Poll watchdog Kontra Daya also received reports of death threats and harassments against volunteers and supporters of the progressive parties in many parts of the country.

“The Duterte administration utilized its entire machinery—time, resources, power, influence as well as the military, police and others—to also push for its rotten candidates and parties for the partylist elections. We are not surprised that the parties Duterte openly endorsed are those charged with graft and corruption,” Gaite said.

Meanwhile, Gabriela Women’s Party and ACT Teachers Party are poised to win seats in the next congress.

Gabriela is currently at 12th spot with 434,319 votes representing 1.63% of party list votes cast.

ACT is at 17th place with 380,760 votes, representing 1.43% of party list votes cast.

Kabataan Party and Anakpawis are in the middle tier of the party list race  at 48th and 62nd places, respectively.

Kabataan has 189,830 votes, representing 0.71% of the votes with Anakpawis has 140,567 votes, representing 0.53 of the votes.

Member organizations of Kabataan Party are set to hold indignation rallies throughout the country this afternoon to protest fraud in yesterday’s polls as well as the delayed posting of results by Comelec’s faulty servers.# (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Vote buying remains rampant, poll watchdog reports

Poll watchdog Kontra Daya said that vote buying remains rampant in today’s elections, a practice that has in fact started as early as January.

The group in its mid-afternoon report said it has received allegations of vote buying in the provinces of La Union, Bataan, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Camarines Norte, Negros Occidental, Aklan, Leyte, Samar, Cebu, Davao, Agusan del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur.

Amounts reportedly range from P200 to as much as P4,500.

In Metro Manila, Kontra Daya received reports on vote buying in Quezon and Taguig cities.

Volunteers on the ground described the vote buying as “widespread,” “massive,” “brazen,” and “insulting”, Kontra Daya said.

“There were several reports detailing how vote buying is coursed through their respective barangay officials. Others are reportedly ‘helping’ voters find their precincts in exchange of votes,” the watchdog said.

In Moises Padilla town in Negros Occidental, police have reportedly arrested those allegedly involved in vote buying.

Among those confiscated are sample ballots with P1,000 each attached.

As many as 28 suspects have been arrested, a separate report sent to Kontra Daya said.

Moises Padilla is under Comelec control following the murders of of reelectionist Councilor Jolomar Hilario and a relative last March 31.

In Samar, vote buying reportedly began as early as January, Kontra Daya said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Election watchdog accuses Comelec of undermining credibility of polls

Election watchdog Kontra Daya accused the Commission on Elections of failing to address issues that may lead to massive fraud in the May 9 elections.

In a press conference in Quezon City, the group enumerated issues that “pose great danger to the security and accuracy of the counting of…votes.”

“It has opened avenues for cheating and disenfranchisement, and has eroded even further the credibility of the upcoming polls,” Kontra Daya convenor Giovanni Tapang said.

Here is a video of the press conference.

Kontra Daya 2016 starts campaign for credible elections

Convenors and members of the citizens’ election watchdog Kontra Daya trooped to the Commission on Elections last March 7 to press the poll body to hold a clean, peaceful and orderly elections.

When elections in the Philippines have been automated in the 2010 and 2013, Kontra Daya had been instrumental in documenting many cases of fraud using the Precinct Count Optical Scanning machines.

Kontra Daya is again expressing alarm that the new machines will be used to commit fraud as the Comelec is refusing to implement safeguards, such as receipts for voters as well as opening the program source code for scrutiny by other parties.