Catholic watchdog finds no Filipino poll foul play

Catholic watchdog finds no Filipino poll foul play

There were no discrepancies or evidence of cheating that gave President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr a landslide victory over opposition leader Vice President Leonor “Leni” Robredo in the Philippine election, according to a Catholic poll watchdog.

The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Citizenship (PPCRV) — a Catholic-based group that campaigns for honest and clean elections — said on May 12 that it did not encounter any anomalies in its tabulation of the results, which concurred with the official results of the Commission on Elections.

The PPCRV announcement laid to rest allegations by Robredo’s supporters of there being a “fixed gap” between her and Marcos Jr’s votes.

Allegations of cheating through hacking of the automated system went viral on social media, with many of Robredo’s supporters questioning the huge difference in votes between Marcos and Robredo.

With about 95 percent of votes counted, Marcos had amassed about 31.1 million votes while Robredo had about 14.8 million.

“We have not found any evidence that the system was hacked,” PPCRV member Jess Laguesta told UCA News.

“This is not surprising because the results were consistent with opinion surveys. There is a science behind surveys and they told us that Bongbong Marcos was way ahead of Robredo in terms of numbers”

Laguesta said the results were consistent with the projections of pollsters which showed Marcos had a wide lead over Robredo.

“This is not surprising because the results were consistent with opinion surveys. There is a science behind surveys and they told us that Bongbong Marcos was way ahead of Robredo in terms of numbers,” Laguesta added.

University of the Philippines political scientist Alicor Panao likewise said the results were expected and the cheating allegations were “speculative and unfounded.”

“I would have been surprised if Robredo suddenly won because the surveys indicated that she was losing. The Commission on Elections has only validated the results of the surveys, so what was surprising about that?” Panao said.

Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University likewise said alleged fixing was unfounded. The results were, “not unexpected … there is no abnormality here,” the university’s mathematics department said.

“What can we do? It is what it is. We are in a democratic society and we should respect the process. The difference was not only thousands but over 16 million votes and that’s a lot”

Another PPCVR member said Robredo’s supporters should begin accepting the election results and be open to the fact that another Marcos will be in office for the next six years.

“What can we do? It is what it is. We are in a democratic society and we should respect the process. The difference was not only thousands but over 16 million votes and that’s a lot,” Redentor Diaz told UCA News.

Meanwhile, the dean of San Beda Graduate School of Law, Father Ranhilio Aquino, said Catholics should stop bickering at Marcos’ supporters by labeling them “children of darkness.”

“It is regrettable that instead of being a center of unity, the Church was made by some churchmen to openly wade in the turbid waters of partisan politics,” Father Aquino said in a Facebook post.

“The Church is only one authority among many and the exhortations of bishops will be taken as ‘specialist’s advice’ among others. For all the unconcealed involvement of clerics in partisan politics, it is clear that the people chose to follow other authorities.”