Poll watchers who shaded ballots are fired and will face raps – Garcia

Follow our 2025 Election Live Updates here.

Screen grab of two election watchers appearing to shade the ballots of a voter. (SCREENGRAB FROM VIDEO OF JOY BERNOS)

MANILA, Philippines — Election watchers seen apparently shading the ballots on behalf of voters have been sacked.

Aside from this, the election watchers will be charged accordingly.

This is the decision of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia.

Garcia was reacting on Monday to a Facebook video showing two election watchers, a man and a woman, apparently shading the ballots of voters.

The video went viral.

“The two election watchers were fired and cases will be filed against them,” Garcia told reporters in a Viber message.

In a Facebook post by Joy Bernos, a woman could be heard saying: “I would like to report that we are having the votes be shaded by the watchers and ballot secrecy voters are not being used.”

A ‘kodigo’ (paper for copying) could also be seen on the desk, with watchers appearing to be copying its contents.

As of Monday afternoon, Bernos’ video garnered 225,000 reactions, with 161,000 shares./apl