Election Scams and Protests in the Philippines

 Rogelio G. Balo Ph.D.

The Enigma of Political Elections

Without doubt, election fraud and protests have submerged Philippine politics for numerous decades since the initial democratic election process was held in the country. This phenomenon was recorded both in the national and local environs.

According to *Dr. Temario Rivera..

*The Philippines has the longest history of electoral politics in Asia but electoral fraud has always been an endemic feature of this system. While we are justly outraged by the new revelations about the systematic, large-scale manipulation of the 2004 and 2007 elections, let us not lose sight of the fact that electoral fraud in its varying manifestations has been deeply embedded in our electoral practices.

*I stress this to reiterate the seriousness and urgency of addressing a problem which has deep structural, institutional, and even cultural roots. Even a cursory review of our electoral exercises from the postwar era to the present will show a history of elections steeped in cycles of electoral manipulation involving both fraud and violence.*

*Reflecting the violent temper of the times in the 1946 elections, the supporters of Manuel Roxas threatened an uprising if he lost. In the fraud-ridden elections of 1949, Jose P. Laurel never conceded defeat to Elpidio Quirino. In the 1953 presidential contest, Magsaysay’s supporters planned a coup d’etat if he did not win. In 1961, there was the threat of open violence when President Carlos P. Garcia considered not yielding the presidency to Diosdado P. Macapagal (Timberman 1991: 40-41).

*Electoral violence and manipulation in the pre-martial law period reached unprecedented heights in the 1969 presidential re-election campaign of Marcos when the full range of the “guns, goons, and gold” 3-Gs formula was deployed with impunity. As we all know, the resumption of electoral contests in 1987 did not put an end to the cycles of electoral crises besetting the country with the 2004 and 2007 elections as the most brazen examples of deliberate, systematic projects of electoral manipulation and fraud. *

2022 Presidential Elections

Compared to numerous past Philippine elections, the last 2022 national election had shaped the political landscape as unusually divisive and highly disputable.

In 2016, when former Senator and now President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (BBM) lost the vice-presidential race to then Congresswoman Leni Robredo, BBM filed his protest with allegations that he was cheated in several provinces. Finally, he lost his petition with the Supreme Court who unanimously ruled on February 2021.

Marcos and Robredo were among the presidential candidates in the last election, and both led in pre-election surveys, with BBM facing several disqualification cases questioning his eligibility as a candidate because of a previous criminal conviction record related to his failure to pay taxes in the 1980s.

However, the results of the 2022 presidential race stunned and “paralyzed” every decent voter citizen in the country. 

Winning by a landslide vote, BBM received the highest share of votes 58.7 % with more than 98 percent of precincts nationwide. His closest rival, Leni Robredo, received only about 28 % of the total votes.

*Consequently, Leni Robredo acknowledged her loss in one of the most consequential presidential elections in the country’s history amid nationwide protests of vote buying and broken ballot-counting machines against BBM. Complaints from the Robredo camp erupted as early as the preliminary results showed that BBM had won by the biggest margin in more than 3 decades.  

Robredo criticized the “massive machinery to spread hate and lies, “stealing the truth, as it also stole our history and future”. Senator Francis Pangilinan, Robredo’s running mate told their supporters that “the fight is still far from over, especially at this point when lies and deceit are gaining ground.”

1986 Presidential Election

History will show that one among such controversial elections was in 1986 when the late dictator Ferdinand E.  Marcos proclaimed himself victor of a snap presidential election but was accused of “rigging” resulting in the walkout by election computer programmers which drew sympathy from the public and members of the armed forces, which eventually led to the ouster of Marcos through a peaceful People Power uprising.

On February 25, Corazon C. Aquino was sworn in as the duly elected President, effectively reinstating democracy following decades of the totalitarian rule of the Marcoses.

 1992 Presidential Election

In 1992, the election victory of Gen. Fidel Ramos was challenged by top caliber lawyer Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who was second in that presidential race. Santiago was initially leading in the counting but surprisingly narrowly lost in the final tally. She alleged that Ramos’ camp manipulated the results and filed a protest, but the Supreme Court dismissed her petition.

In 1995, the Senate election results were disputed by some candidates who claimed that dagdag-bawas operations undermined the vote-counting process. A similar complaint was lodged during the 2007 Senate election, which led to the unseating of an elected senator after evidence of fraud was presented.

2004 Presidential Election

In the 2004 election, dagdag-bawas became the game with cheating in the manual elections. The most controversial dagdag-bawas allegation involved former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo GMA, who was implicated in an incriminating voice recording between a candidate and an election officer.

Amid widespread criticism, GMA was reelected that year that she wantonly mobilized government resources to guarantee her victory.

Because of the vote cheating scandal, Arroyo’s presidency was threatened by several impeachment complaints, coup rumors, and massive street protests. She was able to finish her term even if her credibility and popularity suffered an all-time low.

Is there An End to Political Election Rip-Offs and Protests?

Political election fraud by candidates is a global conundrum with shattering consequences. Since time immemorial, it cannot be denied that dirty politicians have insatiable greed for power and money. For this reason, dirty politicians will incessantly use all kind of illegal schemes and fraudulent tactics to ensure winning the election.  These will include the intimidation of voters through gun, goons and gold, grabbing and switching of ballot boxes, dagdag-bawas of votes in counting and manipulation of vote counting machines among others.  

Sad to say, the never-ending issue of political election swindling and protests is here to stay. This I say with a shade of exasperation and hopelessness.