Editors’ Note: To keep our readers on-track and informed of important issues affecting Filipinos in the exercise of their rights to freedom of information, we are publishing this article as an update to a related article which appeared in our April edition (click link to view). Content from publications and social media quoted herein is accessible to the public.

“Wag na umasa. Right after the elections, we formed a team of lawyers, and we formed a team of computer experts… to look into allegations of cheating. We participated in all the third-party audits that were conducted and our lawyers and our computer experts did not see anything (election cheating).  Ayaw po namin na mag-file ng kaso na paa-asahin lang kayo.”

That was Leni Robredo’s public statement after the results of the 2022 national elections in the Philippines, affirmed by the Commission on Elections of the Philippines, came out.  

After many months of campaigning and staging big rallies all over the country and the entire population basking in the gigantic support that she generated wherever she went, from the country’s capital cities in Manila to the far-flung cities and towns in the provinces, she lost in the post-electoral count. 

The same affirmations were made by the prominent political opposition leader Senator Trillianes who announced as much, in public radio broadcasts and podcasts that he and his supporters found no evidence of cheating in the official electoral counting.  Unbelievable. Undeniably, these are hard facts. They happened. They are recorded.

But then, a final report, no less from the International Observer Mission (IOM) of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) on the May 9, 2022 election, came out stating that, “ Based on the extensive Mission ground reports and verified media and social media reports before and after May 9, 2022, the International Observer Mission concludes that the Philippine Elections 2022, especially the Presidential, Senatorial, and House of Representatives elections, including for the 20 percent Party-List seats, failed to meet the international standard of a free, honest and fair election. These elections were marred by a higher level of failure of the electronic voting system than ever before, along with a higher level of blatant vote-buying, a disturbing level of red-tagging, and a number of incidents of deadly violence. Many voters did not get to cast their vote, and many had to trust that election officials would later put their marked ballot paper through a Vote Counting Machine (VCM), thus undermining the secrecy of the vote. Vote counting was neither transparent nor reliable because of the failure of so many VCMs. Nor was the declared vote count credible because of the unbelievable speed in the transmission of election returns, the extraordinary loss of almost 900,000 votes by the Bayan Muna Party-list, and the election of only one opposition Senate candidate, Risa Hontiveros, out of 12 Senate positions up for election. How could that happen if the Robredo presidential vote was 30 percent?”

It gave Lee Rhiannon, a member of that Mission and Former Member of the Australian Senate, the reason to conclude that, “The evidence is overwhelming that the national elections (in the Philippines) failed clearly the people of the Philippines. Marcos, Jr. and Sarah Duterte were not elected legitimately.”

It may not be fair to judge the position that Leni Robredo and Sen. Trillianes took on the matter, still fresh from the grueling campaign they did, ending in devastating defeat; with nothing to back up whatever claim they could make as they publicly declared, to file an electoral protest or an election contest at that time.

But how can the people leave things as they are, when there is an unexplained outcome and clear evidence of rigging of the election results? Fortunately, after the election smoke cleared, in the election aftermath, a trio of technology experts filed a case. It is not to declare somebody else as a winner, nor is it intended to oust the other, but to let the TRUTH come out, by submitting to the Court the real records of voter count, that were generated by machine and technology, manned by Comelec and their appointed contractors.

The petitioners are asking the Philippine Supreme Court to command Comelec and the telecom companies to preserve the transmission logs in connection with the May 2022 elections and for Comelec to provide digital copies to the petitioners. People can assume that the transmission logs are preserved because it is legally mandated. But since the filing of the case in November 2022, Comelec has not provided digital copies to the petitioners.  

The petition is rooted in Sec 7 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution which states, that, “The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized. Access to official records, and to documents, and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions, or decisions, as well as to government research data used as a basis for policy development, shall be afforded the citizen, subject to such limitations as may be provided by law.”

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has not taken action to resolve the case. Against the Court’s dopey stance, the people’s clamor for action on the petition have started causing postings to show on social media.

“Ang pag-alam ng katotohanan tungkol sa kaduda-dudang resulta ng halalan noong Mayo 9 ay pinakamahalaga sa aming mga mamamayan. Para sa kapakanan at kapayapaan at katinuhan ng pamamahala nanawagan kami sa inyo na utusan agad ang COMELEC na maglabas ng tutoong “transmission logs” ng walang ano pang antala. Kailangan ang mga ito upang mapatunayan ang nasabing resulta.”

“Kung hindi niyo patibayin ang Karapatan malaman (“right to know”) hindi makakasali ang mga tao sa mga desisyong makakaapekto sa kanila at hindi na rin nila mapapanagot ang gobyerno at mga opisyal na sangkot sa mga katiwalian.”

The clamor is directed to the Supreme Court. But as it sits unresponsively to the Petitioners’ and its supporters’ growing agitation for action, it creates intolerance among the people.

Natural tendencies follow. The people’s agitation percolates. They contemplate and make assessments of the situation. 

“How do you spell APATHY? Apathy: F.I.V.E.M.O.R.E. Y.E.A.R.S. O.F. I.L.L.E.G.I..T.I.M.A.T.E. R.U.L.E. B.Y. T.H.E. U.N.I.T.H.I.E.V.E.S.

Contemplation leads to arriving at conclusions.

“Hindi natin malalaman ang buong katotohanan ng napakaagang resulta at hindi kapanipaniwalang “constant vote ratios” na ini-ulat ng Comelec” nung May 9 kung dahil sa katahimikan natin ay hindi papansinin ng Comelec ang mga tanong tunkol dun.”

The Comelec tries to deflect the petitioners’ demand by coming up with alternative and false information, with the obvious intention of making the Petitioners and the people believe that they have given in to the demands made on them.  Unwittingly, what they have done is remove all and any doubt which amounts to an outright and unmistakable admission that the Petitioners and the people have the right to the Transmission logs that they seek to obtain from Comelec. The only difference is that they intentionally refuse to surrender the real object of demands but try to mislead them with false and useless information. It instantly generated a posting that says:

“Sa paglalathala ng tinatawag nilang transmission logs nu’ng Marso 23, kinikilala ng Comelec na may Karapatan ang TNTrio humiling ng impormasyon na kauri sa kanilang hinihiling. Kaya hindi kailanangang pagtatalunan pa ang Karapatan nilang makatanggap ng ganung impormasyon. Ang kailangan lang ay utusan ng Korte Suprema ang Comelec na magbigay ng tutoong transmission logs. Pero bakit ang tagal ng desisyon nila?”

The initiators and convenors of the movement pursuing the case for truth have amassed a substantial following among Filipinos in the country and from abroad. The effort is conscientious and continuing as it is relentless and progressive. It started with a sundry group of some seven or so core membership, holding regular and frequent online meetings and discussions. It has now generated a large number of Filipinos, in the thousands of signatories to the Mandamus petition by the TNTrio and thousands more on open appeals being made on Leni Robredo and the Opposition group to support the initiatives. 

The EDSA revolution was ignited with terrifying gunshots that killed the most feared political opponent of the erstwhile Filipino autocrat. The people eventually responded with street actions and tumultuous protests that ended the dictatorship. In these new stirrings among patriots, it started off with hushed but unabated efforts of connecting individuals using communication and technology. With a regular and dedicated use of time and effort to gather, process and share information, it has grown a following. They are moving to draw in people and have them get involved, to help accomplish the singular, powerful, and sweet goal – to let out the TRUTH.

(Photo credits: Facebook page of Frank Ysaac, one of the TnTrio election truth advocates)