Marilyn Cahatol

Members of the media cast their votes during the scheduled Local Absentee Voting at the Comelec-NCR office in Barangay Greenhills, San Juan, on April 28, 2025.

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LOCAL ABSENTEE VOTING

Job Manahan

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:958px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/174832324948720250428-local-absentee-voting-JC9854.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Members of the media cast their votes during the scheduled Local Absentee Voting at the Comelec-NCR office in Barangay Greenhills, San Juan, on April 28, 2025. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Members of the media cast their votes during the scheduled Local Absentee Voting at the Comelec-NCR office in Barangay Greenhills, San Juan, on April 28, 2025. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</em><strong></strong><u></u></span></span></span>MANILA – An international human rights group and poll watchdog Kontra Daya on Tuesday urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to conduct a hybrid election in the future, amid issues that emerged during this year’s midterm polls.</div><p>The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) today launched the results of their International Observer Mission 2025, where they raised vote-buying, election-related violence, and malfunctions in the automated counting machines (ACM).</p><p>Peter Murphy, chairperson of the ICHRP Global Council, said IOM recorded 111 instances of vote-buying, 51 cases of voter disenfranchisement, and 30 cases of election violence, among others.</p><p>Because of this, IOM said in its report that the country “did not meet international standards for free and fair elections.”</p><p>Murphy also noted the cases of malfunctioning ACMs, 17.03 million overvotes, and pre-marked ballots.</p><p>“This is really high even compared to previous elections. The malfunctioning machines caused delays in voting and affected thousands of voters nationwide,” he said.</p><p>“Comelec really failed to explain why the ACMs ran a higher version of the software rather than the one which has been verified properly by the certification process,” he said.</p><p>Comelec’s filing of disqualification cases and show-cause orders against candidates tagged in vote-buying and abuse of state resources during their campaign were not enough, according to Murphy.</p><p>“Vote-buying continued right up to May 12 on voting day. The Comelec suspended a small number of candidates in their campaigns because of vote-buying. But really, they made no impact in this scandalous interference in the election,” he said.</p><p>“Vote-buying was observed in a larger scale than in 2022 and many Filipinos had to accept a large amount of money because they are trying to survive on average wages,” he said.</p><p>For her part, IOM Commissioner Dr. Andrea Mann described the country’s 2025 midterm elections as “neither free nor open” due to the “massive scale of problems.”</p><p>“The pattern of problems speaks to a much larger context and social inequality, fascism, foreign influence, and systematic human rights violations against the Filipino people,” said Mann.</p><p>“It is of utmost urgency for the international community to pay heed to these major issues as systematic injustice and call for a truly fair and democratic electoral system in the country,” she added.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>WHY HYBRID ELECTIONS?</strong></div><p>For Prof. Danilo Arao, Kontra Daya convenor, it was time that the Comelec adopted a hybrid-type of elections.</p><p>Arao said they were alarmed by the reports of disenfranchisement, voters turned away due to missing names, and ballot rejections.</p><p>“The Comelec continued to ignore and dismiss glaring anomalies as mere technical issues. From the pre-election period to the final canvassing of votes, the electoral process was riddled with irregularities that suppressed genuine voter representation and further consolidated elite power,” he said.</p><p>He also highlighted that the ACMs were implemented “without transparency or public scrutiny” and had “delayed” results, as well as the alleged software changes.</p><p>To add to that, Arao said the presence of transparency servers, discrepancies in digital certificates, and over 15,000 precincts reporting “faulty or duplicate files further eroded public trust.”</p><p>“The Comelec’s refusal to acknowledge or investigate these failures reflect a dangerous lack of accountability,” he said.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/5/13/wrap-alleged-issues-in-automated-halalan-2025-1638">WRAP: Alleged issues in automated Halalan 2025</a></div><p>He said instead of the automated election system, the Comelec should conduct an open-source hybrid elections “where we will have manual vote counting at the precinct level combined with electronic transmission of results.”</p><p>“Without systemic urgent reforms and genuine accountability, the Philippine elections will continue to serve the interests of the few rather than reflect the democratic will of the Filipino people,” he said.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/09/09/22/hybrid-elections-switch-to-cost-p42-billion-comelec-chief">Switching to &#x27;hybrid&#x27; elections to cost P42 billion: Comelec chief</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>WHAT COMELEC, OTHER POLL WATCHDOGS SAID</strong></div><p>Comelec yesterday said it was prepared to answer all the allegations, after lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc filed a resolution in the House of Representatives to probe the automated election system and other issues related to the 2025 midterm elections.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/5/26/makabayan-bloc-seeks-inquiry-into-halalan-2025-issues-1429">Makabayan bloc seeks inquiry into Halalan 2025 issues</a></div><p>&quot;Comelec is ready to appear before Congress if and when called upon to lay down facts and showcase the milestones of the most successful, fastest-ever in counting, and transmission of votes, canvassing and proclamations, most peaceful electoral exercise, highest-ever voter turnout [in] national and local elections in numbers,&quot; said the poll body&#x27;s spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco in a message.</p><p>&quot;As to the call for hybrid elections, we submit to the wisdom of Congress in legislating laws amending, if ever and if any, RA8436 as amended by RA9369. As we had fully complied with the full automation requirements of these laws, COMELEC equally commits to fully comply with any new law on elections should any be passed by Congress,&quot; Laudiangco said.</p><p>The Comelec also described as “fake news” information that 17 million voters committed overvotes.</p><p>In a statement, the poll body said only around 1.4 million voters committed the overvoting.</p><p>“Kung susuriing mabuti, ang isang botante ay maaaring makapag-overvote ng higit sa 12 na kandidato sa senatorial race. Dahil dito, kailangang hatiin ang total na 17 million ‘overvotes’ sa 12 upang makuha ang tinatayang bilang ng aktwal na overvote incidents o balotang may overvote,” it said.</p><p>“Samakatuwid, ang sinasabing 17 million ‘overvotes’ ay katumbas lamang ng halos 1.4 milyong botante na nag-overvote, at ito ay mahigit 2% lamang ng kabuuang bilang ng mga bumoto,” it added.</p><p>The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), meanwhile, earlier explained the overvotes, which in this year was defined as “the number of votes which were cast aside” or uncounted votes.</p><p>“Ilan ang hindi binilang? Hindi 13, ang hindi binilang ay 12 kasi 12 lang ang maximum na votes na pwede (sa senator). Ginamit din yun sa 2010 and 2013 noong Smart-Dominion PCOS, ngayon ang Miru, yun din ang definition nila,” said Ana Singson, PPCRV’s spokesperson last week.</p><p>“If you divide that by 12, the maximum number that can be cast aside by any voter is 12 kasi 12 ang maximum number of votes para sa senator. If you divide 17.4 million by 12, that would give you 1.4 million,” Singson said.</p><p>Singson said the percentage of overvotes this year was at 2.45 percent, if the public would follow her explanation, lower compared to 2019 when the overvote was at 2.55 percent.</p><p>The IOM ran from late April to mid-May or through election day, according to their report.</p><p>Over 50 international human rights observers were deployed in several areas in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao “focusing on areas with documented histories of electoral violence.”</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div style="text-align:center"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TK81ARcx1EE?si=RBb1n5Jpin1L_A5g" title="YouTube video player" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br/></div>

<p>An international human rights group and poll watchdog Kontra Daya on Tuesday urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to conduct a hybrid election in the future, amid issues that emerged during this year’s midterm elections.</p>

An international human rights group and poll watchdog Kontra Daya on Tuesday urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to conduct a hybrid election in the future, amid issues that emerged during this year’s midterm elections.

Rights group, Kontra Daya tell Comelec: Adopt hybrid elections

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Rights group, Kontra Daya tell Comelec: Adopt hybrid elections

Job Manahan,

ABS-CBN News

Published May 27, 2025 02:13 PM PHT

Read More:

elections

Commission on Elections

Comelec

International Observer Mission 2025

International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines

Kontra Daya

Halalan 2025

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