BILANG PILIPINO | Watchdog urges Comelec to explain police presence in polling precinct seen in viral video

May 11, 2022 , 04:07 PM

By Clarist Zablan

(May 11, 2022) – An election watchdog on Wednesday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to explain the presence of uniformed police officers inside a polling precinct after a viral video circulating in social media showed them tearing ballots inside a poll precinct in the south.

Police officers are normally stationed 30 meters away from a polling precinct based on Comelec’s rules, Kontra Daya convenor Danilo Arao said, but the video showed otherwise.

“We understand na mock elections daw ito, pero yun na nga, bakit pulis ang nagpu-punit?” Arao said on radio show ‘Ted Failon and DJ Chacha sa Radyo 5.’ “Kasi batay sa election rules, ang involvement ng pulis would be very very limited, unless sila ay nautusan talaga ng board of election inspector.”

The local Comelec and the board of election inspector (BEI) should also issue an explanation to the public on the matter, he said.

The Omnibus Election Code does not allow police officers to enter a polling place except if they are voting. They are also only allowed to stay within a 30-meter radius outside of the precinct upon the majority approval of the BEIs, but they are still not allowed to stand next to the door, speak with voters or disturb the conduct of the elections.

Earlier, Comelec commissioner George Garcia, who leads the poll body’s anti-disinformation task force, said they are now working with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate the issue.

But he had doubts that the police officers in the video were tearing legitimate ballots that were cast on the election day last Monday. He believed the video was showing the destruction of mock ballots typically used by political parties to train voters.

Arao said they have also started investigating the issue.

Kontra Daya has received a total of 4,000 incident reports over the conduct of the May 2022 polls, he said. Most of the 900 reports they have verified involved complaints of long lines due to the malfunctioning of vote counting machines (VCMs).

Kontra Daya also received reports of vote buying and disinformation, particularly of “red-tagging” or accusations of links to communist rebellions against candidates.

The poll watchdog said that the malfunctioning of 1,800 VCMs based on Comelec data would have affected 1.1 million people, with some of them potentially deprived of their right to vote.

“Kahit sabihin natin na sa pangkalahatan, maliit na bilang lang yung mga depektibo na vote counting machine, sa mga dikitang laban, sa ibat ibang antas nasyunal man yan o lokal lebel – minsan nga ang diperensya sa local level ay sampung boto lang – malaking bagay po yung aberya sa kahit isang vote counting machine lang,” Arao said.

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