News Roundup 13 May 2022
May 13, 2022 • 4 min Read
Robredo to raise ‘largest volunteer network’ soon after her term as VP ends | INQUIRER.NET – Vice President Leni Robredo would be spearheading the creation of the “largest volunteer network” in the country immediately after her term ends on June 30. She announced this plan during the thanksgiving event of the Leni-Kiko tandem and slate at the Ateneo de Manila University on Friday. Robredo revealed that the “Angat Buhay NGO” – derived from the Office of the Vice President’s Angat Buhay program – will be launched on July 1. “Sa unang araw ng Hulyo, ilulunsad natin ang Angat Buhay NGO. Meron na tayong template nito. Bubuuin natin ang pinaka-malaking volunteer network sa buong bansa. Pero hindi tayo mamimili ng tutulungan,” she said. “Iniimbita ko kayong lahat, ang mga nagpagod, ang mga kumpanya at private partners, itutuloy natin ang ating pagsasama-sama,” she added. Angat Buhay was also part of Robredo’s presidential campaign rallying cry – a roar for good governance and accountability. Robredo’s revelation came as she asked her supporters to acknowledge the decision of the majority in the 2022 presidential race. Robredo said they would not stop looking into reports of irregularities during the May 9 national and local elections, but reiterated that their camp and supporters should not be the root of further divisiveness in the country. “Nakatutok ang ating mga data teams. May watchers na nagbabantay. Pero habang lumilinaw ang litrato, kailangan nating tanggapin na hindi ayon sa atin ang resulta,” she said. Partial and unofficial results from Comelec’s transparency server as of Thursday night showed Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. got 31.09 million votes while Robredo garnered 14.81 million votes. The story is the same for their running mates with Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio obtaining 31.55 million votes and Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan having 9.230 million votes.
Robredo hasn’t yielded, asks supporters to accept majority’s decision | INQUIRER.NET – Still no concession from Vice President Leni Robredo, but she appealed to her supporters on Friday to accept the decision of the majority. During the thanksgiving event of the Leni-Kiko tandem and slate at the Ateneo de Manila University, Robredo said their “data teams” have been monitoring the vote counting. “Nakatutok ang ating mga data teams. May watchers na nagbabantay. Pero habang lumilinaw ang litrato, kailangan nating tanggapin na hindi ayon sa atin ang resulta,” Robredo said. Robredo also reiterated her message last Tuesday morning – after initial partial and unofficial results from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) came in – that they should not be responsible for the creation of further divisiveness in the country. “Ilagay natin ang kilos sa tama: siguruhing ilalagay sa kapakanan ang kapwa. Hindi pwedeng tayo ang dahilan ng pagkakawatak-watak ng bansa,” she pointed out.
More groups express concern over conduct of 2022 elections | PHILSTAR.COM – More groups have come forward to express concern over the conduct of the 2022 national and local election days after the polling precincts closed. Migrante International as well as faculty and employees of the University of the Philippines Manila, in separate statements, said this is brought about by the various reports of vote buying across the country and the vote counting machines that experienced issues on election day, among others. “We cannot ignore the numerous accounts and testimonies from voters of the irregularities they witnessed being perpetrated before, during, and after the election,” the statement signed by 202 concerned UP Manila faculty and employees reads. They also said they express “profound concern and indignation,” taking note that there were issues with the handling and delivery of official ballots, “the discriminatory application of campaign rules,” and the spread of disinformation. UP Manila faculty and employees also brought up that there were violent incidents at polling precincts and reports of stolen ballot boxes and other election materials. “All of these allegations raise questions about the fairness of the national elections. However, the proper authorities have not made any efforts to investigate any of these irregularities,” the group said. Meanwhile, Migrante said “massive fraud was imminent” as even weeks before overseas voting kicked off. Filipinos abroad already took note that the Commission on Elections was unprepared for the conduct of the electrons in Philippine foreign service posts. Issues abroad included the late delivery of ballots, said exclusion of some registered voters in Australia, limited vote counting machines, inaccessible voting places, on top of an ineffective information campaign. “Disenfranchisement of overseas voters was clearly premeditated by the Duterte administration with the low budget allotted to overseas voting and the lack of Comelec officials to watch and check reports of violations at the polling places reported by volunteers,” Migrante claimed.
