The final verdict comes from the people

THE Filipino people is in loud clamor for transparency, accountability, and justice.

A strong feeling of dissatisfaction is currently felt by the nation as this government once again trampled upon our democratic rights by rigging the recently held national and local elections thru widespread fraud and violence. Duterte has been mobilizing all state machinery, especially its armed personnel, to secure positions for his allies, subvert people’s will thru pacifying dissent and further consolidate his authoritarian rule.

Massive reports of errors and malfunctions of the automated elections system accompanied by widespread vote-buying and use of government resources to favor administration bets have rendered the elections results highly questionable and not reflective of the people’s mandate.

Even before the campaign period started, critics of the administration, especially Makabayan candidates, have been targeted by red-tagging and harassment operations. Government agencies including PNP, AFP, DILG, and even the NYC have been utilized as machinery in electioneering and maliciously campaigning against us. These attacks intensified as the campaign opened, with attacks ranging from online threats to  actual physical harassments, illegal arrests, and even murder of Makabayan coordinators and leaders. 

It is a shame that the Duterte government has been actively launching calibrated attacks against progressive candidates who have in their platforms genuine calls for socio-economic reforms for the people including but not limited to improved basic social services, decent and regular jobs, and the protection of human rights. Meanwhile, it has endorsed and campaigned for candidates who were infamous for being plunderers and human rights violators, as well as partylists who are deemed bogus and unrepresentative of the interest of the marginalized.

Come election day, the voters have been disgruntled by the corruption of 1,000 SD cards that affected 400-600 vote counting machines. Many have been discouraged to vote due to widespread delays and machine errors. Several problems were encountered with the transparency servers that tallied votes and the overall non-transparent character of the automated polls, including anomalous delays in updates of votes tally, among others.

Given all of these, the 2019 elections results are far from credible and certainly tainted with fraud. Hence, the Makabayan bloc asserts a thorough investigation and accountability over the massive electoral fraud. We also demand the scrapping of the  privatized and foreign control over the automated election system and our democratic and sovereign electoral exercise.

The people will not concede. Let us not concede to an election that is obviously manipulated to put this administration’s bets in position and its dictatorial goals furthered.

We call on every Filipino to exercise our rightful duty to protest against these blatant attacks on our democracy.

In the end, it is us, the people, who will render the final verdict. – Antonio Tinio, representative, ACT Teachers