The automated vote-counting system reads as valid those ballots with marks that cover at least about 25 percent of the oval for each candidate. Shading one candidate’s name and oval and crossing out another’s may invalidate a vote.
CLAIM: By crossing out Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo’s name on the ballot, those who will vote for former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. can ensure that their votes for the late dictator’s son will be counted.
RATING: False
Twitter user @AnalynMuko posted on May 7 a printed flyer that maliciously instructs supporters of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to also cross out Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo’s on the ballot.
The instructions contain two steps: step one is to shade the oval beside Marcos’ name, and step two is to draw a line over Robredo’s name and the oval beside her name.
While the post is from a satirical account (the handle comes from the Filipino slang phrase for “have anal sex with me”), it’s patent disinformation that could affect the voting process; thus we rate it FALSE.
The automated vote-counting system reads as valid ballots with marks that cover at least about 25 percent of the oval for each candidate.
Shading one candidate’s name and crossing out another’s may invalidate a vote.
Voters may only for the following number of candidates per position in the 2022 elections:
- President – Vote for 1
- Vice president – Vote for 1
- Senator – Vote for a maximum of 12 (undervoting allowed)
- House of Representatives – Vote for 1
- Governor – Vote for 1
- Vice governor – Vote for 1
- Board member – Vote for the number specified in the ballot (undervoting allowed)
- Mayor – Vote for a maximum of 1 candidate
- Vice Mayor – Vote for a maximum of 1 candidate
- Councilor – Vote for the number specified on the ballot (undervoting allowed)
- Party-list – Vote for 1 group
The image also contains a false statement that reads, “Huwag magpaloko ulit sa Comelec at Smartmatic! Panalo na si President BBM!”
Robredo won the 2016 vice-presidential elections after getting 263,473 more votes than Marcos. Robredo garnered 14,418,817 votes, versus Marcos’s 14,155,344 votes.
Marcos announced the filing of a protest in June 2016, but this was junked by the Supreme Court sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal in a decision dated Feb. 16, 2021 and uploaded to the court’s website on April 19, 2022.
The magistrates, voting 15-0, voted to throw out the electoral protest. A recount in three provinces – Iloilo, Negros Oriental, and Camarines Sur, saw Robredo expanding her margin to 278,566 votes.
The court admonished Marcos, saying he had “failed to substantiate his allegations of massive anomalies and irregularities in protestee’s (Robredo’s) favor.”
While Marcos is leading Robredo in several nationwide surveys, it is also erroneous to declare that the dictator’s son had already won, as the vote-tallying period has yet to start.
