FOLLOWING the continuing silence of the Comelec on the alleged cheating in the conduct of Overseas Absentee Voting, vice presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday called on the poll body to separate the vote receipts with discrepancy complaints for reference in case any voter decides to file a case.
He described as “alarming” the continuing silence of the Comelec on these issues.
“Why is it that until now we have not heard anything from the chairman or their spokesmen on what they are doing about these allegations?” asked Marcos.
Marcos also expressed alarm over the recent election survey showing his opponent, Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, as the leading candidate in the vice presidential race.
“We are quite surprised by the new survey because all other surveys show otherwise. I hope this is not a pattern for cheating,” Marcos said during a press briefing at the Eastern Samar provincial capitol.
“But we don’t depend on surveys. We will continue to work harder and remain focused on spreading our message and platform to the Filipino people.”
Marcos’ cousin, Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, who is running for senator, said their camp was asking the help of the people, particularly members of the media, to help them keep an eye on the irregularities that might happen during the general elections on May 9.
Marcos suggested that the Comelec separate the vote receipts with reported discrepancies and if possible let the voters sign the receipts for proper marking.
He said separating the vote receipts with supposed discrepancies would guide the poll body and the voter in case complaints were pursued on the matter.
He said there should be proper guidelines on this as he had repeatedly been telling the Comelec to address possible complaints or concerns because it could not just say “noted” to all complaints. He said this was unfair to all voters.
“We raised this issue a week ago and this was reported in the news and widely discussed in social media, but until now the Comelec has not issued any definitive statement on this serious allegation that could put a cloud of doubt on the results of the May 9 elections,” Marcos said.
He said the Comelec should now issue guidelines on the vote receipts to address possible issues that could arise as shown in the ongoing Overseas Absentee Voting.
As early as April 20, Marcos had issued a statement asking the poll body to probe the discrepancies in the Overseas Absentee Voting, noting a complaint of a Filipino worker in Hong Kong who claimed to have voted for him but the receipt indicated the vote was credited to Senator Gregorio Honasan.
Marcos said he had also received reports of similar incidents in Kuwait, Dubai and Japan. He said Vice President Jejomar Binay, the standard bearer of the United Nationalist Alliance, also complained of similar incidents.
