Spurious last-ditch reports of candidates being disqualified and a buildup of fabricated vote tallies of presidential contenders took hold of social media as voters trooped to precincts on Monday. The misleading and deceptive narratives on election day largely targeted now presumptive president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his rival, Vice President Leni Robredo; their running mates,...
From surprise and shock to outrage, netizens have reacted to the way the Commission on Elections’ partial and unofficial results of the May 9 voting for national officials were being presented and reported by broadcast networks. They cited an intriguing pattern in the percentage ratios of incoming votes of frontrunner Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice...
I knew this year’s elections would be different from all the others that we’ve had, but I didn’t want to make expectations. Elections in this country are like some exotic cultural rituals—festive and intoxicating events that teeter on the edge of total chaos. How we find a method to the madness—and survive—is a source of...
Morning of Election Day on Monday did not proceed well for many seniors and persons with disabilities (PWDs), who discovered that there were no vote counting machines (VCMs) in the senior voting areas, and if there were, the machines broke down early. Here are personal accounts of Filipinos in their 70s who went out to...
Monumental was the “miting de avance” of Vice President Leni Robredo in Makati City on May 7, dwarfing those of the other presidential candidates in terms of size and passion. The 780,000 estimate served to cap the throngs that came out to greet Robredo in cities and towns nationwide in the weeks and days leading...
An automated election is a complex process. From preparation to completion, the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the constitutional body in-charge of managing elections, is faced with a daunting task. Unless citizens’ groups, volunteers, media and other government entities, such as the Department of Education and local government units, help, millions of voters will have difficulty...
Disinformation operations continue relentlessly, as though in a last-ditch effort before Election Day. Filipino voters head to the polls on Monday after months of being engulfed in a relentless stream of falsehoods spewed out in multiple formats and platforms that is unprecedented in Philippine history. Tsek.ph’s second and latest analysis has tracked a high volume...
A few days before Election Day, as the campaign for the presidency neared the homestretch, this political “game changer” happened! It has surprised almost all partisan camps, notably the contenders in an obvious two-cornered fight. The game changer is the release of the finding of TruthWatch Philippines in an intercept survey that Ferdinand Marcos Jr....
Rectifying the “flaws” of latest Pulse Asia surveys will lead to good chances for Leni Robredo to win the presidential elections on May 9, according to a former secretary general of the then National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB). “I think she has a chance. Huwag lang madaya (assuming there’s no massive cheating),” Ramon A. Virola...
EDITOR’S NOTE: As early as January in the weekly OpinYon, political scientist Temario C. Rivera noted the battle lines in the May 9 presidential election. A rematch between Leni Robredo and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. looms large, in what may very well be the most consequential presidential election since the end of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s dictatorship...