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Four of the top 10 partylist groups are linked to Duterte and his allies. Some of them also spent millions for ads, which means they either have huge funds or are funded by big business.
The Congress-approved Senate version does not prohibit fixed-term and multi-layered contracting as demanded by workers. Its provision on penalties and fines on employers and agencies engaged in illegal labor-only contracting is weak.
On top of coercive activities of the police and military forcing the people not to vote for the opposition and the progressives, on top of humongous campaign ads of administration bets, the automated election system itself can and may have been used to spew vote “results” in favor of the administration bets, particularly at the national level.
"We reiterate that activism and the full exercise of our civil and political rights is not a crime. While we continue with our everyday human rights work, we are also resolute in our commitment to see this through."
Since May 23, 2017, when the entire island was placed under martial law, 93 activists have been killed while 136 have escaped death. More than 1,400 others were arrested and detained. Karapatan revealed there are 815,734 victims of civil and political rights violations.
“Issues such as China deals, drug war, war against the revolutionary movement, corruption etc. will not go away and these will be the considerations of administration candidates, except for those who are rabid supporters or are unthinking.”
“We should continue to oppose these forms of suppression on people’s rights, as well as efforts of Duterte and his ilk to establish a full-blown dictatorship.”
Dr. Temario Rivera of AES Watch pointed out that Comelec did not fulfill the requirements set by the law with the absence of a comprehensive source code review and digital signatures, the failure of final testing and sealing, and the absence of a contingency plan.
“Duterte has brought about the conditions favorable for the rise of the legal mass protest movement as well as of the more potent armed revolutionary mass movement.”
"Not only did they have to be resourceful in troubleshooting the machines and in exhausting all possible means to ensure that the voting process continues immediately, but they also had to endure voters’ irk and disappointment in the resulting chaos and long lines in polling precincts."
Voter counting machine errors worsened in today’s polls, bucking the lowering trend set in the 2013 and 2016 national and local elections, watchdog Kontra Daya revealed.
When Bayan Muna members and Kontra Daya volunteers asked the police handing out the newspapers, the police said, “Wala kami alam d’yan, media yan. Basta pinamimigay lang namin.” (We don’t know anything about that, it’s media (sic). We just distribute these.)
“Red baiting is a different level of negative campaigning. It poses risks to those who are red-tagged and might result in extrajudicial killings.”
Members and supporters of senatorial candidate Neri Colmenares and Makabayan partylist groups received death threats, were harassed and labeled as communists and supporters of New People's Army (NPA). The Makabayan bloc has been critical of the Duterte administration.
Kontra Daya has called for the suspension of pilot testing of the Voter’s Registration Verification Machine (VRVM), saying it has caused delays in the voting.
Among the senatorial aspirants who are against the lowering of minimum age of criminal responsibility are Bam Aquino, Neri Colmenares, Sonny Matula, Samira Gutoc, Gary Alejano, Nancy Binay, Romy Macalintal, Grace Poe, Erin Tanada and Florin Hilbay.
For respecting human rights, senatoriables Neri Colmenares, Chel Diokno, Leody de Guzman, Erin Tañada, and Samira Gutoc got a perfect score of seven. For outright disregard for human rights, Ronaldo Bato dela Rosa, Christopher “Bong” Go, Lito Lapid, Bong Revilla and Jiggy Manicad earned a score of zero. Imee Marcos got two points but had a track record of abuses during his father's rule.
Babae Network, whose volunteers recently observed the Commission on Elections’ Final Testing and Sealing, said they found irregularities and long-standing problems of the automated elections such as paper jams, unreadable printouts from the vote counting machines, to name a few.
The labor groups such as the TUCP and the KMU, FFW and other groups that arose from differences in the labor movement are uniting on issues like fighting contractualization and voting for senatoriables who support it.
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