BBM to supporters: Guard votes

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. made a final appeal to his supporters over the weekend to guard their votes against supposed threats of “large-scale fraud” aimed at discrediting the results of today’s elections.

“The victory is ours as long as we remain awake on Monday, so that we can avoid another sabotage,” Marcos said in Filipino during the UniTeam’s miting de avance Saturday night.

Supporters who occupied Solaire grounds in Aseana, Parañaque City formed what organizers said was the biggest crowd – estimated at one million – ever gathered throughout the 90-day campaign period for the UniTeam of Marcos and his running mate, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.

“We all know that if we lose focus (in monitoring the elections), that’s when undesirable incidents happen,” Marcos told the crowd. “We will need to drink loads of coffee (to keep watch)” he added in jest.

Before going on stage, his team released a statement in which he warned against “possible large-scale election fraud.”

“We just have to be vigilant, we have to pay attention. Make sure na nakabantay tayong mabuti (Make sure that we are closely monitoring). Guard your vote, whoever you are voting for,” Marcos said.

The consistent frontrunner in pre-election surveys admitted that his camp is concerned not only with the reported attempts by some groups in Mindanao to subvert the results of the elections, but of possible large-scale election fraud, pointing out that “such operation is not done on the ground but in some secret places.”

“We learned a lot since 2016. We spent the last six years studying the problem. We learned many, many things. We know much better now what the system is and what are its weaknesses,” he said.

Marcos, the son and namesake of the late dictator who ruled the Philippines for 20 years, has repeatedly claimed being cheated out of the vice presidency during May 2016 elections.

However, his election protest did not prosper as the recount still had incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo winning by 263,473 votes.

In a unanimous 15-0 vote, the Supreme Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), junked Marcos’ claim of fraud.

On Saturday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) conducted a walk-through of its transparency media center at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Manila, attended by members of the media and other election stakeholders.

During the walk-through, the Comelec assured the public that the transparency server has been tested and that the seven-hour delay in the transmission of election results (ERs) in 2019 would not happen this time around.

Kontra Daya: Probe CHED chair for electioneering

Poll watchdog Kontra Daya urged the Comelec to investigate Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Prospero de Vera for allegedly endorsing political candidates during a CHED-hosted voter’s education forum for the youth.

In a statement, Kontra Daya called on the Comelec to probe the actions of De Vera, citing them as alleged electioneering and “misuse and abuse of government resources during the campaign period” which are election offenses.

The group said that De Vera had outrightly endorsed the candidacies of Duterte-Carpio for vice president and Gringo Honasan, Gilbert Teodoro, Manny Piñol, Loren Legarda and Herbert Bautista for senator.

It said the CHED chief did so during the sixth episode of the PILI-PinaSkolar Halalan series held via Facebook Live and was broadcast on CHED’s official Facebook page last May 5. – Evelyn Macairan