MALACAÑANG yesterday stood pat on the pronouncement of President Duterte that there were no irregularities in conduct of the May 9 polls after a report said it “does not meet the standard of a free and fair” election.
“We reiterate what President Duterte said during his May 11, 2022 Talk to the People address that there are no voting irregularities… to dispel doubts of some quarters such as the Philippine Election 2022 International Observer Mission… we leave the matter to the Commission on Elections (Comelec),” Communications Secretary and acting presidential spokesman Martin Andanar said.
Andanar also urged everyone to respect the outcome of the elections and give chance to the winning candidates.
The Philippine Election 2022 International Observer Mission” report said the May 9 elections “were marred by a higher level of failure of the electronic voting system than ever before, along with rampant vote-buying, disturbing levels of state and military orchestrated red-tagging of candidates and parties including numerous incidents of deadly violence.”
It added that a large number of voters were not able to cast their vote as many people found that their names were not in the voter roll, while others were “had to trust that election officials would later put their marked ballot paper through a vote-counting machine because of the breakdown of the voting machines.”
“This election does not meet the standard of free and fair because of these prevailing conditions that robbed the voters of access to reliable information, access to the voting places without intimidation, and a credible vote counting system. This election cannot be declared free and fair until all the illegal acts that have marred the process are dealt with,” the report read.
The IOM, which said it was “sponsored by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP),” said it started its monitoring of the elections in February when the election campaign started but actual observers were deployed on the ground only in April and they “meticulously documented the unfolding campaign, the vote and the aftermath in Central Luzon, National Capital Region (NCR), Southern Luzon, Central Visayas, Western Visayas, and Mindanao.”
IOM commissioner and Belgian Parliamentarian Séverine de Laveleye said they considered the Philippine elections as “extremely important” to both the international community and the Filipino people.
De Laveleye said among their observations are the “strenuous red-tagging” of Vice President and presidential candidate Leni Robredo, the strafing during a meeting of presidential candidate Leody de Guzman in Mindanao, and the arrest of many campaign activists on false charges.
It also reported about the alleged election-related violations of human rights and alleged election-related killings.
“The elections took place in the most repressive atmosphere seen since the time of dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The Duterte government has orchestrated state terror, marshalling the entire machinery of the state, including the judiciary, the military and police, the departments of education, social welfare and local government, in a war on dissent which continued through the entirety of the election campaign. The results of the election are a worst-case scenario for the Filipino people and for the international community,” it added.
IOM Commissioner Chris Ferguson raised concerns about the possible victory of presumptive president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and presumptive vice president Sara Duterte-Carpio which he said will only continue to provide legal and legislative cover for past and future human rights violations, economic plunder and crimes against humanity.
Ferguson said he believes the election is both a “tragedy and farce of epic Shakespearean proportions” as it was based on a sea of disinformation, disenfranchisement and intimidation of large swathes of the voting public.
“The priority now for the international community should be intensified international efforts to hold the outgoing Duterte team accountable for its abysmal human rights record, and to increase monitoring of the incoming Marcos administration. This work is underway at the International Criminal Court, and in the United Nations Human Rights Council processes, and can be pursued in national jurisdictions with Magnitsky-style laws. There should be no hint of a blind-eye for continued human rights violations under Marcos Jr.,” he added.
