- VP Sara calls for vigilance in manual counting
VICE PRESIDENT Sara Duterte voiced concerns on the credibility of the recent elections as she urged PDP-Laban to pressure Comelec into validating the results through manual counting.
“Meron kasing manual counting ang Comelec [The Comelec has manual counting]. I told PDP-Laban to find a way because I personally didn’t have a nationwide tour. They are the ones with the machinery. If only their lawyers could attend the manual random counting audit of Comelec.”
She further emphasized her support for any questions raised by PDP-Laban as a political party if they believed their candidates were specifically targeted.
“But more than [that], is PDP-Laban as a political party still seeing their candidate at a disadvantage, I will support their questions,” she said.
Duterte underscored the importance of electoral integrity for all Filipinos.
“Because as a Filipino, we want the elections to be credible and the result to reflect the will of the people,” she concluded, highlighting the shared desire for a transparent and fair electoral process.
On May 17, Atty. Israelito Torreon revealed plans to file a petition before the Comelec for a “full, independent, and transparent investigation” into the 17 million overvotes, the glitches in the ACMs, and other alleged election irregularities.
He said the sheer number of the overvotes is “statically improbable,” and significantly impacted the election results. Seven PDP-Laban candidates lost their senatorial campaigns despite dominating Mindanao and some parts of Visayas.
