A LAWMAKER has raised the alarm over a Regional Trial Court (RTC) ruling that reversed the machine vote count in the 6th District of Pangasinan, warning of its far-reaching impact on the country’s electoral system.
In a privilege speech Wednesday, Deputy Majority Leader Atty. Marlyn Primicias-Agabas called for an inquiry into the court’s finding that “the automatic counting machines did not accurately read and count the votes cast by the voters.”
Primicias-Agabas stressed that while the dispute may appear confined to her district, its implications go beyond local lines.
The lawmaker cited a case in Rosales where a candidate initially proclaimed winner by 1,208 votes based on official election returns was later declared to have lost by 1,975 votes after a physical recount—a swing of 3,183 votes. Primicias-Agabas said such a reversal demands transparency and clear explanations from election authorities. “If it can happen in Rosales, it can happen anywhere,” she warned, emphasizing that the entire nation must pay attention when official machine results and physical recounts diverge so dramatically.
“Ang boto ng bawat Pilipino ay sagrado. Kapag nawala ang tiwala sa proseso ng halalan, natitibag din ang pundasyon ng ating demokrasya,” Primicias-Agabas said. She framed the issue as a test of institutional credibility and democratic resilience.
In her speech, she said serious questions must now be confronted: whether the Automated Counting Machines committed a grave error, whether the COMELEC agrees with the trial court’s declaration that the machines miscounted votes, and whether similar discrepancies could have occurred elsewhere if the machines were indeed inaccurate in one municipality. She stressed that these concerns extend beyond one town and go to the integrity of the entire electoral system.
“Did our automatic vote counting machines commit a grave error? Sinasang-ayunan ba ng COMELEC ang deklarasyon ng Mababang Hukuman na nagkamali sa pagbilang ang mga makina?” Primicias-Agabas said.
The Regional Trial Court Branch 53, presided by Hon. Judge Roselyn Andrada-Borja, ruled that “the automated counting machines did not accurately read and count the votes cast by the voters. There were complaints by voters that their Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) or Printed Voter’s Receipt did not match the actual vote they casted.”
However, Primicias-Agabas also noted that the protestee raised serious concerns regarding the authenticity of ballots appreciated in the recount. Among the alleged irregularities were mismatched chairman’s signatures, darker microtext, misaligned COMELEC logos, differences in paper color, phantom marks, and 106 extra votes purportedly lacking corresponding VVPAT receipts. She described these observations as red flags that go beyond superficial defects and directly call into question the integrity of ballots used to reverse the initial result.
Despite these concerns, a motion to decrypt ballot images to compare the digital images captured on election day with the physically recounted ballots was denied. The Deputy Majority Leader expressed alarm over this development, especially in light of established Supreme Court jurisprudence recognizing that digital ballot images carry the same evidentiary weight as physical ballots and may be relied upon when physical ballots yield dubious or highly suspicious results.
Primicias-Agabas underscored that the Supreme Court has long settled this issue in Maliksi v. COMELEC (G.R. No. 203302, March 12, 2013), where it ruled that digital ballot images generated by vote-counting machines are equivalent to original ballots and may be used as primary evidence in election protests. She emphasized that this jurisprudence was precisely meant to safeguard electoral integrity when physical ballots are lost, tampered with, or compromised.
She further noted that the protestee has filed a case against Presiding Judge Borja for gross ignorance of the law, arguing that when the Supreme Court has already ruled that ballot images are equivalent originals and must be considered when ballots appear tampered, a trial court cannot simply disregard that doctrine.
“It is now 2026. Why are we still debating whether ballot images have the same probative value as physical ballots?” she asked, pointing out that the doctrine held by the Supreme Court has long been institutionalized in procedural rules. She stressed that between a ballot that may have been tampered with during storage and a digital snapshot taken on election day, transparency demands that technology be fully utilized, not sidelined.
The lawmaker likewise called on the Commission on Elections and the National Bureau of Investigation to investigate the root cause of the discrepancy between the machine count and the physical recount, including allegations of ballot tampering and substitution. She also pushed for stiffer penalties for ballot manipulation and urged Congress to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation to examine systemic vulnerabilities and strengthen safeguards. She specifically called for stronger chain-of-custody protocols for ballot boxes, warning that broken seals and questionable storage practices render security measures meaningless.
Primicias-Agabas formally sought that the Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms conduct a comprehensive inquiry into vote-count machine transparency, ballot security features, protocols for accessing ballot images and VVPAT data during disputes, chain-of-custody procedures, and international best practices that may be adapted to the Philippine context.
While affirming her respect for the independence of the judiciary and the constitutional mandate of COMELEC, she cautioned that silence in the face of systemic vulnerabilities would amount to complicity.
“Ang boto ng Pilipino ay hindi biro. It is the currency of our democracy, the voice of our sovereignty, the hope of our future,” she said, vowing that the House will act to ensure that every Filipino can trust that when they cast their ballot, it will be counted faithfully.
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