Manual counting of votes in precinct means more spending, says Garcia of PDP Laban’s call
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 30 April) — The call of political party Partido ng Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan (PDP Laban) for manual counting of votes at the precinct level in the 2025 midterm elections would mean more spending, according to Commission on Elections chairman George Erwin Garcia.
In a statement on Monday, PDP Laban called for manual vote counting at the precinct level in the May 12, 2025 elections, citing Section 31 of Republic Act 9369, which mandates “reading the official ballots during the counting.” RA 9369 contains amendments to RA 8436, the law that authorized the Comelec to use an automated election system.
In response, Garcia told reporters in an ambush interview here Tuesday after a forum on the use of automatic counting machines that manual counting of votes would mean more budget allocation, which the commission cannot afford to do.
“If we want manual counting, wouldn’t that require an additional budget? Because you’ll need to produce election returns, prepare tally boards, and increase the salaries of teachers since they won’t agree to work extra hours without proper compensation. Maybe they’d still be counting votes after two days,” he said in Filipino.
Garcia said they are consistently informing the public that the elections are secure and safe, emphasizing that all systems used—including vote counting machines and transmission devices—have undergone thorough testing and certification processes.
He emphasized that even advanced technologies such as Starlink devices, which are used solely for result transmission, have “no effect on vote counting, printing of election returns, or election receipts.”
Garcia pointed out that the “well-encrypted” source codes for all automated election systems have been reviewed by independent experts and deposited with the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), a trusted poll watchdog.
“We respect their opinion and suggestions. We only wish they had raised it in Congress in time so that Congress could have pushed for a law, but there’s nothing we can do about it now,” he added.
PDP Laban, however, said that “we have the law. The guidelines and procedure laid down in Section 31 of RA 9369 for a manual counting of votes are already sufficient and clear. All that Comelec has to do is enforce and implement it pursuant to its constitutional duty to implement all laws and regulations relating to the conduct of an election.”
The political party stressed that manual counting was retained in RA 9369 because it is “a vote verification mechanism in itself. It enables poll watchers to properly monitor and verify the votes real-time at the precinct level. It is where they can timely object and contest any discrepancy or irregularity and have ample bases to verify the votes such as tally sheets, certificates of votes, manually accomplished Election Returns (as opposed to the electronic or machine-generated election returns), minutes, and multiple testimonial evidence.”
PDP Laban chair and former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is running for city mayor here despite being detained by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for his alleged crime against humanity in relation to his war on drugs, is endorsing 10 senatorial candidates, eight of them from PDP-Laban.
The PDP Laban senatorial aspirants in Duterte’s list are Dabawenyo incumbent senators and reelectionists Christopher “Bong” Go and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, lawyer and singer Jimmy Bondoc, Sagip party-list Representative Rodante Marcoleta, actor Philip “Ipe” Salvador, lawyers Jayvee Hinlo and Raul Lambino, and doctor and vlogger Richard Mata.
Duterte is also backing independent candidates Vic Rodriguez, former legal counsel of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.; and the now-detained pastor Apollo Quiboloy.
Locally, Duterte-backed city councilors are running mostly under local parties Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod and Hugpong ng Pagbabago, and PDP Laban. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
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