A LEFTIST youth group on Wednesday said the administration would rig the elections and declare its candidate, Manuel Roxas II, the winner.
“Roxas is out to rig the elections,” said Anakbayan chairman Vencer Crisostomo. “They already used government funds and machinery for the elections. They will fabricate surveys to depict a last-minute rise of Roxas. As many local candidates are unopposed, these are most vulnerable for cheating. We can expect lots of vote buying, pre-shaded ballots, errors in projected bases of opposition candidates, and electronic fraud in the transmission and counting of votes.”
Crisostomo called on opposition parties and candidates, and the public to unite and thwart the ruling administration’s plan to “hijack” the elections through massive electronic fraud.
President Benigno Aquino III, “knowing full well that he will be made accountable for his various crimes against the people once he steps out of office, is growing desperate. His party and his kulelat candidate Mar Roxas cannot possibly win the elections, except by rigging it through pre-determined electronically fabricated vote results.”
He said the administration has “the machinery, the money and control over Comelec and SmartMatic” which will deliver “auto-daya” votes for Roxas.
“The Comelec’s deliberate failure to have the source code of the machines verified, the digital signatures embedded, and to provide verifiable and valid vote receipts all point to a grand plan for electronic fraud,” he said.
Anakbayan also ridiculed a survey showing Roxas and his running mate, Leni Robredo, leading the race.
“Many have questioned the outfit, with virtually unknown officials and newly registered websites and social media accounts. Some note that the outfit was added to Securities and Exchange Commission only last April 11,” Crisostomo said of the D’ Stafford group.
Anakbayan said the people should be vigilant and assemblies should be held in various places during and after elections in protest of election fraud.
“We should be ready to revolt,” Crisostomo also said.
At the same time, the peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas lambasted the latest survey conducted by Pulse Asia and commissioned by ABS-CBN that placed Roxas at second place, with 20 percent.
“It is unbelievable and unacceptable that Roxas, a consistent flop in voter preference surveys, would jump from fourth to second place,” said KMP chairperson Rafael Mariano.
“This latest survey result is an obvious prelude to what could unfold as the biggest electoral fraud in the history of Philippine presidential elections,” Mariano added.
“We call on all Filipinos to remain steadfast and vigilant. Should Malacañang and the Liberal Party lead a ‘Hocus PCOS’ on May 9 and instigate a massive electoral fraud to desperately make Mar Roxas win the polls, the people should be ready to join nationwide protests that could escalate into another People Power uprising,” he said.
Mariano said the survey result released merely days before the May 9 presidential elections is a blatant “public conditioning” and “trending” that Roxas could lead the polls when in fact the electorate has long rejected him and his “Daang Matuwid” platform.
“We cannot allow a Roxas presidency and a déjà vu of the past six years of the Aquino administration who only favored landlords, big businesses and his circle of KKK (Kaibigan, Kakampi, Kabarilan) buddies,” said Mariano.
Based on the latest Pulse Asia survey that sampled more than 4,000 registered voters with a margin of error of ±1.5 percent, Roxas’ latest rating increased by two percentage points from his previous Pulse survey to remain statistically tied with Poe who garnered 22 percent and down by one point from her previous rating.
“Malacañang and the LP are obviously working double time to project Roxas as a winnable candidate. LP and its Yellow Army can believe what they want to believe but as far as farmers are concerned, we are junking Mar Roxas in the polls on May 9,” Mariano said.
The camp of United Nationalist Alliance presidential candidate Vice President Jejomar Binay urged the Commission on Elections to address election-related technical and legal issues raised by poll watchdogs.
“With only a few days left to mend whatever needs to be fixed, there is a reason for everyone to be worried. The Comelec is either oblivious to the gravity of the risks facing the 2016 elections or refuses to admit their shortcomings.” said UNA spokesman Mon Ilagan.
Specifically, UNA urged the Comelec to require the Board of Election Inspectors and the Board of Canvassers to check the hash codes from the vote counting machines for inconsistencies.
The same call was issued by former Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, who said there must be “a procedure, properly disseminated to the BEIs and stakeholders, on how to verify the authenticity of the software used in the VCMs all over the Philippines.”
“The procedures should include how to resolve a dispute in case there is a discrepancy in hash codes because there is only one hash code for all VCMs all over the Philippines,” he added.
Vice presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged all voters and poll watchers to join an effort to ensure clean, honest and credible elections.
Marcos said his camp is alarmed over the alleged discrepancies in the votes cast in the ballots as against the results indicated in the printed receipt during the Overseas Absentee Voting, with reports coming in from Hong Kong, Japan, Dubai and California.
Based on reports, Marcos said he and his cousin, senatorial candidate Martin Romualdez were losing votes in overseas absentee voting.
Marcos earlier said his legal team is collating these reports and helping complaining OFWs to prepare their affidavits to file a formal complaint before the Comelec.
Marcos said voters should carefully inspect the printed receipts of their votes to determine if there is any discrepancy between their votes and the results on the receipt. He told them to report to the poll watchers and the Board of Election Inspectors if there are any problems so that these can be investigated. With Maricel V. Cruz, Vito Barcelo and Macon Ramos-Araneta