News Roundup 10 May 2022
May 10, 2022 • 5 min Read
Robredo says consulting with experts on poll fraud claims | PHILSTAR.COM – Vice President Leni Robredo said Tuesday she is now consulting with experts on poll fraud claims surfacing online. “Sinisimulan na namin ang pagkausap sa mga eksperto upang maaral nang husto ang mga ulat at alegasyon na nababasa natin sa social media,” Robredo said in a statement, promising that her camp will release the findings of this soon. (We are starting to speak to experts to thoroughly study reports and allegations we are reading on social media.) Robredo is projected to lose the elections to archrival former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos who has amassed an insurmountable lead of 16 million votes, according to partial and unofficial results from the Commission on Elections transparency server. But some of her supporters — particularly from progressive groups — are not giving up just yet as they surrounded the Comelec headquarters in Manila to reject Marcos’ apparent victory as they claimed massive poll fraud over some hitches on election day. These include the malfunctioning of SD cards and some 1,800 vote-counting machines. The rapid transmission of votes which revealed the preliminary results of the highly divisive election at an unprecedented speed also raised eyebrows for some. Then there were also reports of people still voting when transmissions began. The Comelec, however, dismissed these allegations of poll fraud, saying they are ready to face any investigation. In a message at around 2 a.m. on Tuesday, Robredo called on her supporters to join her in fighting for her lifelong advocacies and for them not to dismantle the movement that they have created. But she also acknowledged, while not directly conceding, that the voice of the people is becoming “clearer and clearer” and that this should be listened to.
Asserting ‘poll fraud’, protesters reject Marcos victory at Comelec HQ | PHILSTAR.COM – Hundreds of protesters surrounded the front of the Commission on Elections headquarters in Intramuros, Manila on Tuesday to reject the apparent victory of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. as president as they claimed the polls were tainted by fraud. Marcos has sustained an insurmountable lead of over 16 million votes over his closest rival, Vice President Leni Robredo, according to partial, unofficial results from the Comelec’s transparency server Despite what appears to be a decisive victory for the son and namesake of the former dictator who was ousted 36 years ago through the People Power Revolution, some doubt the preliminary results of the elections primarily due to hitches experienced during its conduct. “Running priest” Fr. Robert Reyes, one of the people before the Comelec headquarters on the morning after the elections, cast doubt on the speed of the transmission of votes, particularly since some 1,800 vote-counting machines malfunctioned on election day, by the poll body’s count. “It was so fast, that our conclusion is that it’s magical. It was a magical moment. But what kind of magical? A dark magical moment in Philippine history,” Reyes said. “We’re not mesmerized. We’re not bewitched. We’re not enthralled,” Reyes told reporters partly in Filipino as he was helping set up a shrine to the Virgin Mary. Reyes and his group were gearing to pray for the 11th straight week before the Comelec office for clean elections when a massive group of students began marching towards the poll body’s headquarters to conduct a much angrier protest. Chanting various calls against martial law, the Comelec, the Marcoses, and President Rodrigo Duterte, the protesters massed up and surrounded the front of the Comelec office, with police being the only barriers from them charging further forward. “The conclusion of these elections is simple. This is the worst. This is the most rotten. And this is the most shameless when it comes to cheating,” Kontra Daya convenor Danilo Arao said during the protest. Much like Reyes and other speakers during the protest, Arao pointed to the hiccups experienced during the elections as possible sources of fraud, even though the Comelec has said that these did not affect the credibility of the polls.
Robredo to supporters: Accept final results, but we’ll check issues | INQUIRER.NET – Vice President Leni Robredo assured Filipinos on Tuesday that she would accept whatever would be the final results of the 2022 presidential race and urged her supporters to do the same. But she said her camp would still check on issues being raised about the conduct of the elections. Robredo said this during a thanksgiving Mass in Naga City, her first public appearance since the start of the counting of partial and unofficial results of the May 9 national and local elections. She addressed her fellow Naga residents in Bicolano, which was transcribed and translated by her office into Filipino. “So for me, what I wish for now, while we are grieving, while some of us still could not believe the results of the elections: Whatever the final results will be, let’s accept them. Let’s accept them because these will be the source of strength that we all can share.” According to the vice president, this would not mean that she would turn her back on complaints about supposed election irregularities and problems. “I’m not saying we will not pay attention to the problems being relayed to us. What I mean is: There is a bigger fight. Our fight does not end with the elections. Many eyes were opened. Many minds woke up. The fight continues,” Robredo said. “The fight here is not just a fight to win the elections but a fight that aims to make ourselves of efforts to achieve a good kind of governance in our country,” he added. She also hopes no one regrets the decision to support the opposition. “I hope there are no regrets in our hearts and minds. We know we did everything – all the industriousness, all the sacrifices — not only me but most of all you. I saw what you offered to these elections. I hope what we offered we can bring to the bigger fight we have to face.”
