PDP Laban, Makabayan cite ‘irregularities’ in polls
ACM errors top complaints in 2025 midterm polls composite image. Illustration by Ed Lustan/Inquirer.net
MANILA, Philippines — The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP Laban) led by former President Rodrigo Duterte and parties under the opposition Makabayan coalition on Tuesday separately called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to address issues that cast doubts on the results of the May 12 elections.
In a statement, the PDP Laban asked the poll body to release election results in real time, stressing that transparency in the vote-counting process is “nonnegotiable.”
“[PDP] is sounding the alarm—the Comelec is sitting on Election Returns (ERs). It has been receiving ERs, yet the raw data remains stuck, unreleased to the Transparency Server …Why the delay? This is a breach of public trust,” it said.
The Duterte-led party urged the Comelec to act now, saying voters cannot accept “vague explanations or more technical excuses.”
“Filipinos’ demand is simple: If there’s a glitch, solve it immediately. Every minute these votes stay hidden, trust erodes. Shouldn’t we demand real-time transparency? Filipinos aren’t asking for special treatment—just the basic right to see their votes counted as they happen, sans filters, delays, and excuses,” it said.
On the other hand, member groups under the Makabayan coalition called for a prompt investigation into alleged irregularities during Election Day, as some automated counting machines (ACMs) reflected erroneous votes and refused ballots.
According to its own election monitor as of 6 p.m. on Monday, the progressive bloc received a total of 264 complaints of malfunctioning ACMs, including reports of overvoting, paper jams, ballot rejections, and smudging.
“ACM errors” made up more than half, or around 52 percent, of the complaints, Makabayan noted.
The rest were “noncompliance” with election procedures by the board of election inspectors or the electoral board (6.7 percent), illegal campaigning (9.8 percent), disenfranchisement (7.3 percent), Red-tagging (4.9 percent), black propaganda (2.4 percent), and others that were unspecified at 17 percent.
For Gabriela Women’s party list, the glaring inconsistencies in the poll results may have “potentially disenfranchised millions of Filipino voters and compromised the genuine representation of women and marginalized sectors in the party list race.”
Bayan Muna, meanwhile, called for a manual counting of votes as it condemned the sudden shift of the source code for ACMs from version 3.4 to the “updated” version 3.5. /cb/abc
