MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday, February 12, warned against syndicates claiming to be able to manipulate election results in favor of candidates who would pay them.
Victory peddlers are not new, according to the Comelec, but arrests are rare. In light of the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group recently arresting three individuals who allegedly tried to extort P90 million from two candidates in Cagayan in exchange for their victory, the Comelec described the new modus that peddlers try to sell.
Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said peddlers claim to have connections to the poll body, and that they can deploy a “secret shade” during ballot printing that would invalidate the votes of their rivals’ supporters.
Garcia said peddlers claim to use something like a “cuticle remover” to create an “invisible shade” on the circle of the candidate who paid them. If the voter tries to vote for a rival, there would be two shaded circles, resulting in an invalid ballot.
“The vote for the rival will end up without a result, and no vote will be credited…. That will not happen. That is impossible,” said Garcia in a mix of English and Filipino.
Garcia added that peddlers have shifted to claiming they can manipulate ballot printing instead of vote-counting machines, which candidates apparently no longer believe.
Comelec Commissioner Aimee Ferolino on Tuesday, February 11, denied that the individuals arrested in Cagayan were connected to the poll body. She said on Wednesday that they were involved in a large syndicate that reportedly operates in various areas across the country.
“With the apprehension of these people, we are looking forward to more apprehensions. At sana ‘yung panawagan namin sa mga kandidato, kung sila man ay na-contact ng mga taong ito, dapat lumabas sila,” said Ferolino. (And we are calling on candidates to come forward if they are contacted by these people.)
“We hope no one else will be convinced by these individuals. There’s no such thing as added layer of protection, added layer of assurance for a candidate to win. It is all up to the voters whether a candidate will win or lose,” she added.
The Comelec stood by the 99.9% accuracy of the random manual audit of the 2022 elections, and assured the public that the machines to be used in the upcoming midterm elections cannot be manipulated.
The 2025 elections will be the first time for the Comelec to use vote-counting machines from Miru, replacing Smartmatic. Election watchdogs have raised concerns about Miru’s history abroad, though the company has insisted the allegations against it are false.
The poll body is also still in the middle of printing ballots after several roadblocks, including 6 million ballots to be wasted because of errors in inclusion of names.
As of Sunday, February 9, at least 27.34% of the total ballots have been printed. – Rappler.com