Negros group joins call for truth behind 2022 polls
Senate Security officers and personnel start to load the ballot boxes containing Certificates of Canvass (COCs) and Election Returns (ERs) onto the military trucks of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Sunday evening, May 22, 2022. (Senate PRIB)
BACOLOD CITY — A social movement has backed a petition that calls for the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) full disclosure of the May 2022 presidential and vice presidential election returns.
The People’s Movement for Truth, Justice, and Reform–Negros Occidental chapter echoed it sentiments on July 29, during the “Electoral Fraud Explained” forum in this city, with former Information and Communications Technology Undersecretary Retired General Eliseo Rio Jr. as guest speaker.
Rio is a member of the TNTrio, a group that has been seeking the truth about the elections last year.
Former Negros Occidental governor Rafael Coscolluela, co-convenor of the group, said if the poll body’s officials refuse to submit to our call for full disclosure, “they deserve nothing less than impeachment.”
“The petition for mandamus before the Supreme Court needs the people’s support. If we want credible elections, electoral reform must take place,” he said.
“The TNTrio truth bomb shows that from the evidence presented, the 2022 electoral results for president and vice president were ‘rigged’. The mere fact that Comelec has refused to open their transmission log makes them highly suspect,” he added.
The election returns from provincial vote counting machines were received by Comelec’s transparency server as early as 7:08:50 p.m., even before the returns were printed out or transmitted by a Telco/ISP (internet service provider), was a key finding of the TNTrio, according to Coscolluela.
All these “suspicious transmissions” came from just one private IP address and most of this happened within the first hour after the 7 p.m. closing of precincts and shocked the electorate with the “landslide” established in record-breaking speed, Coscolluela quoted the TNTrio as saying.
“Na highjack, in other words,” he said.
In October 2022, a petition was filed at the Supreme Court, urging it to compel the preservation of data transmitted on the evening of May 9, election day for national and local positions in the country.
Rio, former Information and Communications Technology undersecretary, also asked the SC to issue a temporary restraining order to enjoin the Comelec, Smartmatic, and telecommunications companies Dito, Globe, and Smart to desist from modifying or erasing the following data, transmitted from 7 p.m. to p.m. on May 9, related to the 2022 election results.
“Mandamus is proper for petitioners that invoke their constitutional rights to suffrage and to inform the Comelec to explain fully the complete details of its preparations in view of the unraveling of alarming events of late,” the petition read.
Under the Election Automation Law, the petitioners said the Comelec is mandated to submit a report within six months of the election, while the Cybercrime Prevention Act requires preservation of subscriber information and traffic data integrity for at least six months.
President Marcos was declared winner of the May 9 presidential race on May 25 with a majority vote of more than 31 million. Rival candidates accepted the results of the elections and did not raise allegations of irregularities or fraud.
His running mate, Sara Duterte, won the vice presidential race.
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