PH ELECTIONS 2022: Marcos proclaimed as president-elect

05:45 p.m.

 May 25, 2022 

Marcos proclaimed as president-elect

Congress, sitting as the national board of canvassers (NBOC), on Wednesday, May 25, proclaimed former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. as president-elect of the Philippines in the fastest canvassing of votes in the country's history.  

Marcos Jr., garnered 31.63 million votes, based on the official canvassing results. It was a runaway victory for Marcos, who captured majority vote in the May 9, 2022 elections and led his closest rival, Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo, by over 16 million votes. 

Marcos is the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was ousted from power during a democratic revolution in 1986. The son's electoral triumph showed how the family was able to revive its popularity among voters after over three decades.

The 92-year old dictator's widow, Imelda Marcos, was wheeled to the plenary hall of the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City to witness the proclamation. 

Marcos Jr.'s sister, Imee Marcos, is a sitting senator. His son, Sandro, just won as representative-elect of the family's bailiwick, Ilocos Norte, where the Marcoses also won the gubernational and vice-gubernatorial races. 

Marcos Jr.'s runningmate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte, was also proclaimed vice president-elect. 

The May 2022 national and local elections registered a voter turnout of 83% — the highest recorded since the poll body automated the national elections in 2010. (READ: Marcos doubled, tripled or more his 2016 vote in many provinces)

The 18th Congress, which served as NBOC, started canvassing votes on Tuesday, May 23. 

Last week, the canvassing of votes was feared to be delayed after two civil society groups lodged before the Supreme Court a disqualification case and a cancellation of candidacy case against the presumptive president Marcos Jr. The Comelec had initially dismissed the cases, which led the two groups to bring their legal fights to the high court. 

The group behind the cancellation case, in particular, had sought a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the canvassing of the votes of Marcos Jr., and his runningmate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte. However, the SC en banc only issued a resolution ordering an answer from the camps of Marcos Jr., the Congress and the Comelec in relation to the petition. 

According to election lawyers, the SC’s ruling may still be applied even after Marcos Jr.’s proclamation as the 17th president by June 30. 

02:30 p.m.

 May 10, 2022 

As Marcos triumphs in elections, Comelec junks appeals vs his candidacy

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday, May 10, dismissed four appeals seeking to reverse the junking of disqualification cases against former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in the 2022 presidential race. 

The Comelec decision was promulgated a day after the national elections as Marcos emerged as the presumptive winner, recording over 30 million votes with 97% of the total votes cast already accounted for. 

The decisions involved two sets of disqualification cases made against Marcos Jr.:

• A petition to cancel his certificate of candidacy, filed by civic groups led by former Supreme Court chairperson Ted Te; 

• A set of petitions of disqualification mostly due to his conviction for tax evasion, filed by Martial Law survivors, civic groups, and partylist Partido Federal ng Pilipinas.

The two sets of cases were first heard in the division level. The Comelec en banc affirmed the decisions first made in January and February 2022 for each set of cases. 

All Comelec commissioners are appointees of President Rodrigo Duterte. 

Follow the results of the elections here. 

06:30 a.m.

Marcos, Duterte poised for landslide win

Former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and his runningmate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte both recorded over 30 million voters with 95% of the results accounted for, based on partial and unofficial results. 

There were about 3 million votes yet to be counted. 

Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo received over 14 million votes while her runningmate Sen. Francis Pangilinan received almost 9 million votes. 

Media personalities Robin Padilla, Loren Legarda, and Raffy Tulfo were leading the senatorial race with each of them recording over 20 million votes.

Follow the results here. 

12:45 a.m.

Marcos widens lead in presidential race

Former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. continued to widen his lead against his rivals after midnight on Tuesday, May 10. 

He recorded over 27.1 million votes with 84% of precincts already accounted for. 

His closest rival, Vice President Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo, was behind with 12.9 million votes. 

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte also enjoyed a wide lead against her rivals in the vice presidential race. She recorded over 27 million votes while her closest rival, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, recorded over 8 million votes. 

Media personalities Robin Padilla, Loren Legarda, and Raffy Tulfo were leading the senatorial race with each of them recording over 20 million votes.

Follow the results here. 

11:00 p.m.

 May 9, 2022 

Elections behind bars

Our reporting fellow Joel Mataro covered the polls in two city jails yesterday, May 9.

Even though they are detained, persons deprived of liberty or PDLs can still exercise their right to vote. According to Comelec Resolution No. 9371, PDLs who may vote are those: (1) confined in jail, formally charged for any crime/s and awaiting/undergoing trial; or (2) serving sentence of imprisonment for less than one year, or (3) whose conviction is on appeal.

One of four or 33,409 out of the 131,000 inmates were registered to vote for the May 2022 Elections, according to an Inquirer report. Since 2016, PDLs are only allowed to cast their votes for candidates vying for national positions, i.e., president, vice president, senators, and party-list group.

A person deprived of liberty detained at the Tanauan City Jail in Batangas looks at his ballot. A total of 101 inmates registered to vote in Tanauan City Jail but only 90 ballots were counted. The 11 others were freed prior to Election Day.

Two detainees of the Calamba City Jail in Laguna cast their votes at the facility's non-contact visitation area, which was temporarily converted into a polling place for the May 9 elections.  Only 61 of the 701 PDLs in the jail are qualified to vote. Majority of the PDLs were not able to register due to strict jail lockdown during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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10:00 p.m.

Marcos leads partial results, overtakes Duterte's votes in 2016

(UPDATED) Former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has overtaken votes received by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016. 

As early as 9 p.m. on Monday, May 9, Marcos recorded over 18 million voters when less than 60% of total votes cast was trasmitted to the servers of the Commission on Elections. 

In comparison, Duterte received 16.6 million total votes in 2016. 

As of 10 p.m., Marcos has received over 21 million votes. His closest rival, Vice President Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo received more than 10 million. 

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte led the vice presidential race. 

Follow the results here. 

Former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos overtook President Rodrigo Duterte's votes in  2016 with less than 60% of total votes cast transmistted at 9 p.m.

8:30 p.m.

Voting precincts begin transmitting results

Clustered precincts began transmitting election results at past 8 p.m. on Monday, May 9. 

As of 8:17 p.m., presidential candidate and former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. led the tally with over 12 million votes, based on unofficial tally reported by GMA-7.

Marcos was followed by Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo with over 5 million votes.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte led the vice presidential race. 

Follow results here. 

8:00 p.m.

VCM breakdown cause long lines, massive delay in 2022 polls

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) failed to avoid or minimize the same problems they had encountered with vote-counting machines (VCMs) during the 2019 midterm polls. 

For the May 2022 elections, which was held today, Monday, about 1,800 VCMs or 1.8% of the total 107,345 units deployed encountered issues during the first four hours of voting, while 168 machines were found defective. This caused long lines in many precincts nationwide, with voters having to wait the entire day.

Election watchdog Kontra Daya urged Comelec to extend the voting period to accommodate more voters and allow time for Comelec to resolve issues. The poll body did not extend voting hours.

Read the full report here. 

7:30 p.m.

Some voters in Quezon City take 4 to 5 hours to vote

QUEZON CITY — Voters at the Fairlane Fairview Elementary School in Quezon City waited long hours in line to vote on Monday, May 9, with several precincts extending voting hours beyond closing time at 7 p.m. 

Rachel Abanilla, who took five hours to cast her vote, complained of long lines at the school. She arrived at 2 p.m. and completed the process early in the evening, at 7:10 p.m. 

Polling precincts were open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. but poll officials are mandated under rules to let voters who arrive at the venue before the closing hours to vote. 

Image source: Rachel Abanilla

In Brgy. Mariana in another part of Quezon City, many voters also took over four hours to cast their votes due to disorderly lines and a malfunctioning voting machine. 

In at least one precinct, a group of voters refused to vote "manually" and decided to wait when the voting machine malfunctioned. 

Voting manually meant they could cast their votes but they would not have been able to feed their ballots into the voting machines themselves and verify if the machine recorded their votes properly. 

But senior citizens, pregnant, and persons with disabilities were prioritized and able to vote easily in Brgy. Mariana. 

Political dynasty, Duterte ally seeks to tighten grip on power in Las Pinas City

LAS PINAS CITY — "Saan kayo? Aguilar o Villar?" a poll official asked a voter where he is assigned to vote at the Las Pinas East High School early Monday afternoon. Buildings in the school are named after the clan that had held key positions in the city since 1995.

Imelda Aguilar, wife of former Mayor Vergel 'Nene' Aguilar is seeking another term as mayor. Their daughter, April Aguilar-Nery is vying for re-election as vice mayor. Another daughter, Alelee Aguilar-Andanar, is the first nominee of BG (Basic Goods) Party List. Alelee is the wife of presidential spokesperson and former journalist Martin Andanar. 

Read our data-driven report on how the party-list elections have become a back door for politicians to perpetuate themselves in power.

Image source: Karol Ilagan

Nene Aguilar's sister is Senator Cynthia Villar, wife of longtime politician and billionaire Manuel ‘Manny’ Villar. Their son, former Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, was the first appointed official of President Rodrigo Duterte. As Duterte's six-year term ends, the government granted Manny Villar’s Advanced Media Broadcasting System provisional authority to operate frequencies of TV channels that were operated by ABS-CBN before it was shut down in 2020.

Mark Villar is running for a seat in the Senate, while sister Camille Villar is seeking re-election at the House of Representatives. Mark Villar is among the top ad spenders, according to Nielsen data.

Image source: Karol Ilagan

Long voting lines make it hard for voters to keep distance

LAGUNA — Social distancing measures are hardly implemented at the Chrysanthemum Village Elementary School in San Pedro where voting queue snakes around the polling area.

Laguna ranks fourth among vote-rich provinces in the country with more than 2.04 million registered voters. Among the 10 biggest voting provinces also are Cebu, Cavite, Pangasinan, Bulacan, Negros Occidental, Batangas, Rizal, Pampanga and Nueva Ecija.

Check out our map for the distribution of 65.7 million voters in the May 2022 polls.

Image source: Pammy Tan

It's the same scenario at the Andres Bonifacio Integrated School in Mandaluyong City where more than 230,000 Filipinos are expected to vote. Long queues await voters outside a school building, but they ease up relatively quickly compared to other polling precincts where voters have been lining up for more than three hours.

Image source: Elyssa Lopez

Power outages, VCM woes mar opening of polls

Reports about power failure, faulty vote-counting machines and corrupt secure-digital (SD) cards were posted on social media as soon as polling precincts opened. Comelec officials said in news reports that contigency measures are in place for these kinds of events.

For the May 2022 Elections, the poll body issued specific instructions to the Electoral Board (EB) of each precinct in case of power failure. “The EB shall ensure that the VCM is connected to the battery and report the power failure to the DESO,” according to Resolution No. 10759, which outlines contingency procedures for the upcoming elections.

If after an hour of failure or non-operation of the VCM despite assistance from the Comelec Election Monitoring and Action Center-National Technical Support Center, the EB can announce to voters that they may either: (1) Proceed to cast their votes… with waiver of their right to be issued a voter’s receipt, as the EB will “batch feed” the ballots themselves, or; (2) Wait for the VCM malfunction to be resolved… for them to cast their votes and personally feed the ballot in the VCM.

Read more here: Threat of power outages during elections persists due to PH’s reliance on coal

Three killed in shooting in Buluan town in Maguindanao

MAGUINDANAO — Three were killed in a shooting incident in front of Datu Luminog Mangelen Pilot Elementary School in Buluan, Maguindanao as voting was underway. This is the first reported incident of electoral violence for the May 2022 polls. Local police said they will be investigating.

Scenes from a shooting incident in Buluan, Maguindanao on the morning of Election Day. Images were sent to PCIJ by a source who was in the area. 

Senatorial aspirant JV Ejercito to cast his vote in San Juan City

SAN JUAN CITY — Senatorial candidate Joseph Victor 'JV' Ejercito arrived at Xavier School to cast his vote. Ejercito, son of ousted president Joseph 'Erap' Estrada, is seeking a comeback in the Senate after losing his re-election bid in the 2019 polls.

Ejercito served as a senator from 2013 to 2019. He was a representative of San Juan City from 2010 to 2013, and also served as the city’s mayor for three consecutive terms, from 2001 to 2010.

His brother, former Senator Jinggoy Estrada, is also vying for a Senate post. He was previously jailed and charged with multiple counts of plunder related to the pork barrel scam.

PCIJ reported in 2013 that JV Ejercito own a secret offshore corporation in the British Virgin Islands, a privacy and tax haven where a global elite of wealthy people like to keep their money away from the prying eyes of the authorities.

Image source: Elyssa Lopez

To curb Covid threat, temperature checks required at polls

QUEZON CITY -- A poll volunteer takes temperature checks at Kamuning Elementary School. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) purchased temperature scanners like the one seen on the photo below to Covid-proof today's polls.

Read our story "The cost of ‘Covid-proofing’ PH’s most expensive elections" to learn more about Comelec's Covid-19 shopping list for the May 2022 Elections.

Image source: Cherry Salazar

Last-minute campaigning?

SAN JUAN CITY -- “Fans” advertising Angat Pinoy partylist with the faces of frontrunners Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte are being given away outside of Xavier School.

Image source: Elyssa Lopez

All in the family in Las Pinas City

LAS PINAS CITY — As early as 6 a.m., voters start to line up in polling precincts in Las Pinas City where the Aguilar-Villar clan seeks to tighten grip on power over the city.

Incumbent Mayor Imelda Aguilar seeks a third term after replacing her husband Vergel ‘Nene’ Aguilar in 2016. Like many towns and cities across the nation where dynasties rule, the couple had just been taking turns as mayor of the city since 1995. 

Nene Aguilar, who passed away in 2021, is the sister of Sen. Cynthia Villar, the wife of longtime politician and billionaire Manuel ‘Manny’ Villar.

Voters line up early in Las Pinas East National High School. Image source: Angelo Relagado

How do the Aguilars and Villars govern? Read more about PCIJ’s stories here:

DPWH under Duterte: Corruption, politics, slippage mar many projects

Las Piñas pushes school reforms despite lack of funds, teachers

Land use bill, other measures protecting forests stuck in Cynthia Villar’s Senate committee

Las Piñas City has a population of 606,293 as of 2020. It has 291,074 registered voters for the 2022 Elections, according to the Commission on Elections.

PH holds first pandemic elections

SAN JUAN CITY — Long lines of voters can be seen at Xavier School by 8:10 a.m. Social distancing measures are hardly being followed. The Philippines is holding its first elections during a pandemic.

Image source: Elyssa Lopez