Rappler obtained a copy of the letter from Impact Hub Manila addressed to Comelec spokesman Rex Laudiangco, informing the poll body that it has yet to settle its outstanding balance of P15.3 million.

“Since it was the Comelec that decided to unilaterally reschedule and eventually cancel the debates, the contract entered into between our client and the Comelec stands,” said the letter from Impact Hub Manila, represented by its lawyer Karla Frias.

“Despite our repeated demands, both verbally and via email, the claims have remained unpaid. As such, please consider this as the final demand to coordinate and set a meeting with us to discuss the settlement of the outstanding balance,” it added.

The private firm warned that it would “avail of legal remedies under the law to recover the debt and to protect the company’s interests.”

Comelec Chairman George Garcia confirmed to Rappler that the poll body had received the letter on Friday, May 12.

“It’s good that it’s them who reminded us of this issue and brought this back to our collective memory. Public funds were involved and it is our sworn duty to spend it only pursuant to established rules, regulations, and auditing practices,” Garcia later said in a Viber group with reporters.

“We are determining whether everything was in order or whether something somewhere along the way, serious issues of questionable nature did set in. We cannot be rushed to settle, more so that there are criminal, civil, and administrative liabilities being investigated,” he added.

So what happened again last year?

The Comelec, in an embarrassing move, was left with no choice but to cancel its last two debates for presidential and vice presidential candidates in April 2022, in the wake of a debt fiasco involving its former production partner.

That was after debate venue Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila threatened to pull out of the event due to Impact Hub Manila’s P14-million debt.

An April 20 demand letter last year said that checks signed by Impact Hub Manila chief executive officer Ces Rondario were “dishonored” by banks “for being drawn against insufficient funds.”

A fiasco that cost a spokesman his post

The Comelec launched a probe, which ultimately resulted in the relief of its longtime spokesman James Jimenez. He never returned to that post and availed of early retirement in September 2022.

Comelec Commissioner Rey Bulay, who led the inquiry, had said in a leaked memo that the poll body’s transaction with its contractor “appears to be manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the government.”

It was Jimenez whom Sofitel first notified about the payment woes, in a March 31 letter last year that reported two bounced checks signed by Impact Hub Manila’s Rondario.

Jimenez’s office, after all, was the one that vouched for Impact Hub Manila when Sofitel entered into an agreement with the private firm.

Jimenez wrote to the five-star hotel, giving them his “vote of confidence” that the private company would honor its payment commitments despite the bounced checks.

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Inside the P14-M debate fiasco: Comelec probes longtime spokesman James Jimenez

Bulay, however, questioned why Jimenez, not a member of the en banc, was “authorized to make such a guarantee” on behalf of the Comelec.

The Comelec’s deal with Impact Hub Manila raised numerous red flags, such as why the poll body preferred a seven-year-old startup over decades-old media companies to mount presidential and vice presidential debates. – Rappler.com

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ALBAY, Philippines – An embattled Legazpi City Mayor Geraldine “Gie” Barrameda-Rosal, described the decision of the Commission on Elections to disqualify her as the “trampling of the sacred votes” even as her supporters held a protest in front of city hall Monday, May 8.

Rosal broke her silence four days after the poll body disqualified her from mayoral post which she had won during the May 9, 2022 local polls.

“Our sacred votes were trampled by the Commission on Elections. We will not stop this fight. I am not afraid to fight for your rights. Do not be afraid. God is with us. I believe that the truth will come out and he will not abandon us,” said Rosal when she spoke to the protesters despite a hoarse voice due to a bad cough.

Her supporters came from the 70 barangays of Legazpi City. They gathered at the City Hall compound, wearing red t-shirts and bearing placards.

Rosal said that she has filed a motion for reconsideration with the Comelec. She added she has also asked the Supreme Court to to grant a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the poll body from implementing her disqualification.

“We will file an appeal to the Supreme Court. We will continue to fight and hold on for the people of Legazpi,” she said.

The Comelec en banc unanimously ruled on May 4 to nullify Rosal’s election win, on the grounds of election code violation, particularly the provision that prohibits candidates from giving money to influence voters. 

The event in question was the controversial cash assistance payout to Legazpi City tricycle drivers and senior citizens in March to April, coinciding with the 45-day ban on the release of public funds.

That Comelec ruling on Rosal turned out to be a double whammy for the Rosal family, after the poll body disqualified Geraldine’s husband Noel from the 2022 Albay gubernatorial race back in November.

The mayor has until May 9 to secure a temporary restraining order from the High Court, Comelec spokesman Rex Laudiangco said.

Aside from questioning her disqualification, Rosal also asked the Comelec why it decided to hand over the post to mayoral race second placer Alfredo Garbin Jr..

The Comelec ruled that Garbin will take over, citing Supreme Court decisions that favored second placers instead of the second-in-command in such a scenario.

Rosal defeated the former Ako Bicol representative Garbin by a narrow margin of less than 1,000 votes.

Despite the political turmoil in Legazpi, Rosal said that it was business as usual in the city hall. She met her supporters briefly at the city hall compound premises where she urged the protesters to be calm and avoid possible commotion. – Rappler.com

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ALBAY, Philippines – Around 1,000 supporters of former Albay governor Noel Rosal and his wife, newly disqualified mayor of Legazpi City Geraldine Rosal, protested in front of the city hall Monday morning, May 8.

The protesters held placards and chanted messages for the Supreme Court to grant a temporary restraining order (TRO) in favor of the Rosal couple while it hears their appeals on the disqualification decisions handed down by the Commission on Elections en banc body.

The Comelec en banc on May 4 unanimously nullified Geraldine’s 2022 narrow mayoralty victory over second placer Alfredo Garbin Jr., the former Ako Bicol representative.

It said she violated Section 68 of the Omnibus Election Code by giving money to attract votes.

The Comelec ordered Garbin to take the place of Geraldine.

In contrast in December 2022, Noel was also disqualified by the Comelec, but the election body named Vice Governor Grex Lagman to take over.

The protesters said they had no leader and described the event as their “people power.” They came from barangays that supported the Rosals during the last elections.

Legazpi City police chief Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Balla called on the protesters to express their sentiment peacefully. He said that cops will stand by to ensure peace and order in the city.

The Rosal couple also dropped by to talk to the protestters.

The former governor urged their supporters to remain calm and peaceful.

At the same time, the couple stressed that the Comelec decisions stomped on the political will of voters in Legazpi City and Albay province.

In an interview with Rappler, the Geraldine noted what she called the Comelec’s changing decision (on succession).

In ordering the loser of the May 2022 elections to assume her post, Geraldine said the poll body trampled on Legazpi residents’ “sacred votes”.

Geraldine has until Tuesday, May 9, to secure a temporary restraining order from the High Court, Comelec spokesman Rex Laudiangco said on Friday, May 5. – Rappler.com

“Our policy direction is FASTrAC, [which stands for] Fully Automated System with Transparency, Audit, and Count,” Comelec Chairman George Garcia said on Thursday, May 4.

From the type of machine that the Comelec wants, to transmission changes, here is a rundown of the ambitious automation reform agenda of the poll body – which it fondly calls a “wish list” – for the fast-approaching midterm polls.

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‘VCMs’ out, ‘ACMs’ in

The Comelec under Garcia’s leadership has been insistent on retiring the more than 97,000 vote-counting machines (VCMs) that the Philippines has relied on since 2016.

Over 1,000 of these machines malfunctioned in 2022, providing for an inconvenient voting experience for tens of thousands of Filipinos on election day.

For 2025, the Comelec is looking for a manufacturer that would be willing to provide new equipment, which would no longer be called VCMs but automated counting machines (ACMs).

ACMs have feature to cast vote directly on screen

Existing VCMs in the Philippines are optical mark readers (OMRs), wherein voters use a paper ballot counted by machines.

The Comelec wants the ACM to still be an OMR, but with direct recording electronic (DRE) capabilities. In a DRE setup, voters use a touch screen or touch pad.

For 2025, the Comelec wants the DRE touchscreen voting option available for persons with disabilities and for illiterate voters. A limited rollout of the feature could also be utilized by Filipinos taking part in local absentee voting (LAV) or overseas voting.

ACMs would show ballot image, count on screen

The ACM would still print a voter receipt, which a person could check to determine whether their ballot was read accurately by the machine. But, in addition to that, the machine would scan the ballot and display its image one by one on screen after the transmission of election results.

The poll body said this gives the electoral board, watchers, voters, and the public a chance to “visually inspect and manually verify the votes cast by viewing the ballot images (front and back) displayed on screen.”

The Comelec said this would add a layer of transparency and address voters’ doubts on whether the machine really tallied their votes properly even though the voter receipt showed the machine read their ballots correctly.

ACMs would avoid paper jam issues

The current VCM requires that the ballot be fed in a vertical, unfolded manner to avoid paper jams.

In comparison, the proposed ACM would have an auto-align function, which means the machine would accept the ballot even if it was inserted in a skewed position.

Standard markers out, stamping pens in

The Comelec would like to do away with the usual markers, and instead introduce stamping pens.

The reason: the shading threshold brouhaha that was a key contention by the camp of now-president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during the recount of votes for the 2016 vice presidential election, which he lost to Leni Robredo.

Garcia, who lawyered for Marcos during that messy electoral protest, said the use of stamping pens would avoid shading threshold issues. (RELATED: Comelec sets 25% ballot shading threshold for 2019 polls)

No single transparency server

For the 2025 elections, the Comelec wants the machines to transmit results to multiple servers simultaneously – consolidated canvassing system, central server, majority and minority party servers, media server, and citizens’ arm server.

“The machine should not pass through a transparency server when transmitting results. Instead, it would transmit to all from the machine. It would be the best feature of this machine,” Garcia said.

Comelec ‘confident’ technology is already available

The Comelec plans to conduct a market survey the soonest possible time, but the poll body believes the technology already exists, and it’s up to interested suppliers to come up with their best offer.

“We are confident that we would be able to acquire ACMs for the 2025 elections. Why? These technologies are available in the market in one form or another,” Comelec spokesman Rex Laudiangco said.

If all goes according to plan, the commission would kick off procurement by July, and award the contract to the winning bidder by January 2024.

If there are hiccups along the way, such as the lack of interested bidders, the Comelec said it could easily adjust its terms of reference.

But what’s the worst case scenario?

“The worst case scenario is if we are not given the budget,” Garcia said. “In that case, we would use again the 97,000 VCMs we have declared unusable.”

The poll body added it would get back to the media on the question of how much the new system would cost, but Garcia said in May 2022 that replacing the VCMs with new ones would cost at least P6.7 billion. – Rappler.com

The seven-member en banc, in a resolution dated Thursday, May 4, unanimously ruled to nulify Rosal’s election win, on the grounds of election code violation, particularly the provision that prohibits candidates from giving money to influence voters. 

The latest Comelec ruling marked a double whammy for the Rosal household, after the poll body disqualified Geraldine’s husband Noel from the 2022 Albay gubernatorial race back in November.

What the ruling said

The en banc resolution set aside the 2nd division ruling in November, which argued that Geraldine benefited from the illegal disbursement of public funds when her husband was the outgoing mayor of Legazpi City.

The event in question was the controversial cash assistance payout to tricycle drivers and senior citizens in March to April, coinciding with the 45-day ban on the release of public funds.

At the time, Noel was still only a gubernatorial candidate who approved the financial aid rollout in Legazpi City in his capacity as its incumbent mayor.

But the en banc said Geraldine should not be disqualified based on this ground “for the simple reason that she is not a public official at the time the supposed offense was committed.”

The same en banc, however, found her guilty of violating Section 68 of the Omnibus Election Code, which disqualifies candidates who have “given money or other material consideration to influence, induce or corrupt the voters or public officials performing electoral functions.”

“The cash assistance payout was an activity intended to induce the voters to vote for herein respondent likewise became more manifest with the display of election paraphernalia during the said event,” the ruling read.

“Based on the representation of the respondent, she is not intent on disclaiming her supposed presence in the subject activity,” it added. 

Who will replace Mayor Rosal?

Rosal could still ask the Supreme Court to intervene and stop the Comelec order from taking effect. 

She has until May 9 to secure a temporary restraining order from the High Court, Comelec spokesman Rex Laudiangco said on Friday, May 5.
Mayoral race second placer Alfredo Garbin Jr. is set to succeed Rosal, the Comelec ruled, citing Supreme Court decisions that favored second placers instead of the second-in-command in such a scenario.

Rosal defeated Garbin by a narrow margin – less than 1,000 votes – in the 2022 race.

In Albay, some groups have raised concerns on the rule of succession used by the Comelec. 

“The incumbent vice mayor should be the legitimate successor when a vacancy in the mayoral seat is deemed to be vacated, not the losing candidate who even lost the recount. That is the rule,” said Irene Solmirano of women’s organization Entrepinay. – With reports from Rhaydz Barcia/Rappler.com

Marcos on Monday attended the groundbreaking of a housing community in Valenzuela City and the inauguration of new buildings in an existing housing project in Malabon. 

“Patuloy nating pinag-aaralan kung paano isasagawa ang pagtukoy at paggamit sa mga bakanteng lupa ng gobyerno na maaaring  tayuan ng mga pabahay, ayon sa ating mga batas at alituntunin,” said Marcos in Valenzuela, for the groundbreaking of the Disiplina Village in Barangay Arkong Bato. 

(We continue to study how to identify and use idle government land so that we can build houses on them, according to our laws and rules.)

The Disiplina Village is a Valenzuela City project to relocate residents in hazard-prone areas. The complex, like in nearby Malabon, is relatively close to commercial and industrial centers and contain services for its residents. 

Marcos promised to address the country’s housing backlog – some 6 million homes when he assumed office. He promised to build some 6 million homes before his term ends, meaning his administration and local governments like Valenzuela and Malabon, as well, should construct at least one million houses every year.

Even as he called on other local governments to follow Valenzuela and Malabon’s cue in creating affordable and dignified housing for its residents, Marcos said government should work with the private sector “to realize our collective goals.”

In a November 2022 press release, Malacañang said Marcos would sign an executive order  that would operationalize Section 24 of the Republic Act 11201 or the law creating the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development.

Under the law, passed during the previous Duterte administration, various government departments are tasked to identify idle government land that could be used for housing and rural development. 

The President said in November 2022 that the EO “will not create new regulations but will just enforce the existing law.” He has yet to issue the said EO. – Rappler.com 

That’s nearly two years since the Comelec posted on its website a notice for the auction of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines, with a minimum bid price of P187.5 million. The PCOS machines were the predecessor of the vote-counting machines (VCMs) that have been in use since 2016.

“We attempted to dispose the same through the usual disposal process in accordance with the Commission on Audit rules. Nobody would like to procure or secure a piece of the PCOS machines,” Chairman George Garcia said on Monday, March 27, in a speech during a forum mounted by pro-democracy coalition PARTICIPATE.

As early as 2014, the poll body considered selling the retired machines, which Comelec procured at P9 billion.

“We have a wide range of experience and expertise in terms of automated elections. This is why if we become vendors, it is highly unlikely that there will be no takers,” then-spokesman James Jimenez said at the time.

The machines were first used in 2010, after the Comelec entered into a lease-with-option-to-purchase (LWOP) agreement with winning bidder Smartmatic. The commission paid P7.2 billion that year, and another P1.8 billion in 2013 to own the machines.

But in 2015, the Supreme Court prohibited the Comelec from refurbishing the PCOS machines, rendering them useless and forcing the poll body to conduct a public bidding for new machines in 2016.

Same, old dilemma

Now, Garcia is insistent on retiring the 97,000 vote-counting machines which were first used in the 2016 elections. A thousand of these machines malfunctioned on election day in May 2022, ruining the voting experience of tens of thousands of Filipinos, and casting doubts on the integrity of the entire process.

Garcia said the 2016 VCMs are still unlikely to attract potential buyers, which is the same problem Comelec has on the earlier PCOS machines.

“As far as the Comelec is concerned, we should not procure machines, even if it is cheaper,” he said.

In order to retire the VCMs, the government must dig deep into its pockets. The Comelec told Congress in May 2022 that it needed at least P6.7 billion to rent out new machines.

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Another cycle?

In a blog written after the May 2022 polls, Jimenez, who is no longer with the Comelec, wrote about his frustrations with Smartmatic, the commission’s automated elections provider since 2010.

He said that back in 2010, Smartmatic “drastically underbid everyone by submitting a bid that was roughly 70% of the approved budget,” guaranteeing that it would get the deal due to the country’s “lowest-bid-wins laws.”

He added that because Congress was unwilling to give the Comelec enough money in 2013, the commission had been forced to activate its lease-with-option-to-purchase agreement with Smartmatic, leaving Filipinos no choice but to use the 2010 machines.

“The P7 billion paid in 2010 was not an accurate reflection of the cost of the machines. It was a drastic underbid by a company willing and able to take an unnaturally deep cut to its margin for the sake of winning,” Jimenez wrote.

“Ultimately, both in 2013 and 2019, the Comelec ended up being essentially locked into using machines that were increasingly problematic – both in terms of their use and the public relations baggage they came with. Not to put too fine a point on it, the perception arose that the Comelec was hanging on to the machines – and the supplier – for shady reasons, when in fact, it was a budget problem all along,” he added.

In the same blog, Jimenez warned of the possibility of the Comelec being trapped in another election cycle with Smartmatic.

“If the past is any indication, here’s what’s going to happen… The Comelec will enter into an LWOP agreement with the winning bidder who will probably be the same winning bidder from 2010 and 2016 (because they’re just going to underbid everyone like they did before) and the Comelec will be locked once again into another six years of using these machines that, paradoxically, are neither smart themselves nor even represent the smartest choice anymore,” he said.

But some lawmakers are not too keen on getting stuck with Smartmatic.

In May 2022, Senate electoral reforms chair Imee Marcos asserted that new machines that would be procured should be interoperable, in case the Comelec decides to pick a VCM provider that is not Smartmatic.

“Does it have to be confined to Smartmatic all the time, given they are the only ones to provide and refurbish the old ones?” Marcos had said back then. “Kinakailangan parehong makina, so palaging Smartmatic (The machines have to be the same, so they’re always from Smartmatic). Despite many complaints, we seem to renew the contract time and time again.” – Rappler.com

Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the honoraria of poll workers will be raised to P10,000, P8,000, and P6,000, for the electoral board chair, EB member, and Department of Education supervisor official (DESO), respectively.

In past elections, poll workers’ salaries for the three posts were P6,000, P5,000, and P4,000, respectively, in accordance with the Election Service Reform Act.

“We had huge savings from our P8.4-billion budget [for the barangay polls]. In the procurement, we picked the least costly offer for every supply, like indelible ink for example,” Garcia said.

Manning precincts for the barangay polls, which are manual, tends to be more tedious than serving in automated elections, because the counting and canvassing of votes are longer.

Back in January, Garcia said a pay bump for teachers was unlikely, since the readjusted budget given by Congress to the Comelec for the mounting of the barangay polls did not take into account the proposed increase in poll workers’ honoraria.

The next round of barangay elections has long been delayed: It was supposed to be conducted in May 2020, but was postponed to December 2022, and then moved again to October 2023. – Rappler.com

The original date set by the Comelec for the filing of COCs was July 3 to 7, but Chairman George Garcia said on Wednesday, March 22, that candidacy filing is now scheduled from August 28 to September 2.

The COC filing period coincides with the start of the election period, and Senator Francis Tolentino said setting the event in July – three months before election day – would “burden local government units” due to prohibitions that would take effect.

Once election period kicks in, local governments are prohibited from suspending elective local officials, transferring officers and employees in the civil service, appointing or hiring new employees, creating new positions, giving promotions and salary increases, and releasing expenditures in connection with public works and social services, among others.

There will also be Comelec checkpoints in every town or city, which Tolentino said will incur additional expenses on the part of the Philippine National Police.

Parañaque 2nd District Representative Gus Tambunting had opposed the original COC filing period set by the Comelec, saying it would tilt the polls in favor of wealthier politicians.

Unlike past elections, a premature campaigning ban would be in effect for the barangay polls, which means that elective aspirants will only be allowed to formally woo voters from October 19 to 28.

This is after the poll body under Garcia’s leadership offered a fresh interpretation of Penera vs Comelec, a 2009 Supreme Court ruling that essentially took away the punishment for premature campaigning. (READ: Why ‘candidates’ can spend so much and not report it)

The next round of barangay elections has been long delayed: It was supposed to be conducted in May 2020, but was postponed to December 2022, and then moved again to October 2023.

Advocates for clean elections have decried the delays, saying postponements deprive the voting public of their right to regularly elect a new set of leaders. – Rappler.com

The move came in the wake of requests from persistent groups to release the data, amid fears of automated election system (AES) fraud.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia said on Wednesday, March 22, that the decision to make the data publicly available was “to erase doubts” on the credibility of AES.

Some sectors – including a group that filed a petition with the Supreme Court last year – expressed doubts on the fast transmission of 20 million votes to the transparency server, only an hour after voting ended.

“The Commission hopes that the provision of the transmission logs will clear the controversies you stated. However, any subsequent specific questions that you may have on the transmission logs will be answered by the Comelec,” Garcia wrote.

Some sectors – including a group that filed a petition with the Supreme Court last year – expressed doubts on the fast transmission of 20 million votes to the transparency server, only an hour after voting ended.

“The Commission hopes that the provision of the transmission logs will clear the controversies you stated. However, any subsequent specific questions that you may have on the transmission logs will be answered by the Comelec,” Garcia wrote in his response letter to retired colonel Leonardo Odono, among the concerned citizens who sought the transmission logs.

The petition filed with the Supreme Court in November 2022 questioned how 1.5 million votes were transmitted by 7:17 pm, when printing election returns already takes electoral boards 30 minutes.

But it is important to note that the transparency server was expected to project results as soon as the votes close, because the data come straight from vote-counting machines (VCMs), which count votes as soon as ballots are fed into it.

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What the process is like

Here’s how the process goes. On election night, VCMs in polling precincts transmit election returns (ERs) to three destinations: the Comelec main server, the transparency server, and the municipal board of canvassers.

Results reflected on the transparency server are used by the media for their reports, and are the unofficial figures that the public sees first.

“The accumulation of figures in the transparency server is fast because it has been intended and designed to be fast. Its speed is a feature, not a glitch or proof of fraud. Speed is a desired feature meant to protect votes,” election lawyer and former Comelec chairman chief-of-staff Emil Marañon explained in November 2022.

The ones that are considered official are the numbers transmitted to the municipal board of canvassers (MBOC).

A “ladderized” system is followed. The MBOC transmits certificates of canvass (COCs) to the provincial board of canvassers (PBOC), which in turn sends the COCs to the national board of canvassers (NBOC).

In short, the official results come at a later time because the NBOC tallies certificates of canvass, not election returns.

Is there AES fraud?

A total of 1,310 vote-counting machines malfunctioned and had to be replaced on election day, providing an unsatisfactory voting experience for tens of thousands of Filipinos.

But overall, the number of defective machines only accounted for less than one percent of the total.

Poll watchdogs have not made any allegation of fraud in the automated election system (AES).

In its final assessment of the polls, NAMFREL still arrived at the conclusion that it “did not observe any anomalies in the automated counting of votes and electronic transmission of election results,” despite the discrepancy in the VCM system hash code that Namfrel pointed out during its pre-election AES monitoring.

A random manual audit of votes for the 2022 polls led by Lente, a process that checks whether vote-counting machines tallied the ballots fed into it accurately, yielded a 99% accuracy.

Even former vice president and defeated 2022 presidential aspirant Leni Robredo said in December that her legal team and group of IT experts did not find evidence of cheating.

However, the Asian Network for Free Elections said in its final assessment of the polls released in August 2022 that while the polls were credible, there were lingering issues.

“Election management in the Philippines remains of a better quality than most Asian countries even though we can witness a concerning backslide in transparency that needs to be addressed,” the group had said, citing the observer blackout during the early days of ballot printing, the lack of a public docket of election complaints, and the rampant vote-buying, among others. – Rappler.com