IT is easy for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to see through the fakery of a photo showing an official ballot without the name of Vice President Leni Robredo purportedly sent to an OFW voter in New Zealand, and was touted in the internet all over the world.
The Comelec, in an official statement, said: “The Office for Overseas Voting (OFOV) confirms that the photo showing an official ballot received by an overseas voter in New Zealand has been deliberately edited to make it appear that VP Robredo’s name is missing from the list of Presidential candidates.”
It is good that before many other Filipinos become victims of this con attempt, Comelec Commissioner George Garcia had explained that the New Zealand Office for Overseas Voting which is run jointly by the Comelec and the Department of Foreign Affairs “uses only one template for its 2022 elections ballots and it is serialized, so such claims could be considered fake news.”
‘The NBI should take up the challenge and resolve these complaints at the earliest time, hale the scammers to court and discourage any more of these shenanigans.’
Commissioner Garcia said that in a serialized printing process, if one candidate is missing, this will not only be apparent on one ballot. There are at least 1,000 ballots for a batch of ballot ID numbers.
In short, poll authorities can only believe that this claim had indeed happened if the perpetrators of the fake news can produce the remaining 999 ballots printed in the same batch. But then again, any individual with a criminal mind and enough money can print.
The government is correct in urging the so-called OFW to send back the ballot to the embassy for verification and if this cannot be done, then he/she should face the consequences of the ruse.
Meanwhile, the Comelec assured the public that the OFOV is coordinating closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Embassy in New Zealand to identify the persons responsible for editing the photo and for spreading the said photo on social media.
To date, the Comelec has referred to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) numerous cases of suspected “fake news” proliferating in social media and traditional media.
The NBI should take up the challenge and resolve these complaints at the earliest time, hale the scammers to court and discourage any more of these shenanigans.
