In a recent joint statement, the Alyansa ng Nagkakaisang Mamamayan (ANIM) and the Church Leaders Council for National Transformation (CLCNT) have raised alarming concerns regarding several irregularities and procedural violations during the 2025 midterm elections in the Philippines. The findings suggest significant lapses in the management of election returns, vote discrepancies, and the apparent manipulation of data that could affect the integrity of the electoral process.
Violation of Election Transmission Procedures
One of the key findings outlined by ANIM and CLCNT highlights a breach of Comelec’s own rules for transmitting election results. According to their report, all the Election Returns (ERs) from precincts across the country were not sent directly to trusted monitoring organizations such as the PPCRV, NAMFREL, or the media. Instead, the results were first sent to an intermediary server called Data Center 3, which consolidated the election returns before forwarding them to the appropriate channels. This action was found to be in direct violation of Comelec Resolution 11098, which stipulates the proper protocol for the transmission of ERs. Specifically, Data Center 3 was not among the approved servers listed to receive and manage ERs, raising questions about the security and transparency of the election results consolidation process.
Exclusive Control of Results by Comelec
The report further details how Comelec’s Data Center 3 became the sole entity responsible for consolidating election returns, with no involvement from independent bodies like PPCRV, NAMFREL, or the media. According to Eric Alviar, Secretary General of NAMFREL, there was a two-hour delay in the release of the first batch of consolidated election results to these monitoring bodies after the close of voting. During this time, only Comelec had access to the election data, which raises concerns about potential manipulation or alteration of the results.
The delayed release and exclusive control over the data by Comelec left PPCRV, NAMFREL, and media outlets unable to verify the accuracy and transparency of the results during that critical period. This has raised questions about the transparency of the election process and the integrity of the data being shared.
Discrepancies and Vote “Cleaning” Process
Another alarming discovery involves a 5 million vote discrepancy identified by media outlets like Rappler. Comelec attributed the issue to duplication in the transmission of election returns, but the process of “cleaning” the data — effectively deleting 5 million votes — was carried out solely by Comelec without the involvement or oversight of independent observers. PPCRV, NAMFREL, and the media had no access to the “cleaned” data until it was shared with them, leading to further concerns about the accuracy of the final election results and whether the vote cleaning process was truly impartial.
Reports of Voting Machine Malfunctions and Irregularities
Thousands of voters have also reported problems with the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) or voter’s receipts, claiming that their ballots did not reflect the candidates they voted for, with some voters noticing discrepancies such as extra or missing candidates. In some cases, voters reported that their ballots were pre-shaded, indicating possible tampering before they even cast their votes. While these complaints have been widespread, Comelec has yet to provide official data on the total number of affected voters.
Overvote Crisis: A Growing Concern
In the 2019 midterm elections, a total of 1,170,331 ballots were reported to have overvotes, effectively disenfranchising many voters. In the 2025 midterm elections, however, Namfrel reported a staggering 17,028,780 overvotes. Overvotes, where voters accidentally select too many candidates for a position, usually account for 1.5% to 2.5% of total votes in most elections, but this year’s numbers have reached a concerning 29.89%. Such a drastic increase in overvotes raises serious questions about the voter education and integrity of the election process.
Unexplained Changes to Voting Software
In a final point of concern, it was revealed that Comelec made an unauthorized change to the program installed in the Automated Counting Machines (ACMs) by updating it to version 3.5.0 without public notice or independent certification by IT experts. This modification bypassed the mandatory local source code review required by law, making it impossible for voters or election watchdogs to determine what alterations were made to the software, or how these changes might have impacted the voting process.
Calls for Immediate Investigation and Transparency
The findings from ANIM and CLCNT point to several alarming irregularities that could undermine the credibility of the 2025 midterm elections. With concerns ranging from vote discrepancies and procedural violations to the lack of transparency and control over election data, both groups are calling for an independent, thorough investigation into the handling of election returns, the anomalies reported by voters, and the unexplained changes made to the voting software.
As these issues continue to unfold, the public and election stakeholders await assurances from Comelec that the election process is being carried out with the highest standards of transparency, fairness, and integrity.#
