Caritas backs ‘mandamus’ petition vs election data logs

Caritas Philippines, the social action arm of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, said it supports the "mandamus" petition filed before the Supreme Court to preserve the voter transmission logs from the 2022 National and Local Elections.

In a statement posted Thursday, Caritas is urging the Supreme Court to settle issues raised regarding the results of the last election.

The petitioners, former Information and Communications Technology Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr., former National Movement for Free Elections Chief August Lagman, and former Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines President Franklin Ysaac, questioned the more than 20 million votes that were transmitted during the first hour after the closing of the polls on election night.

The petition seeks to halt the possible deletion of election data logs by three telecommunications companies to allow for the scrutiny of the "peak" transmission of votes, as the petitioners claim that certain voting data had been pre-loaded.

"We pray that the Supreme Court will take into consideration the constitutional right of the Filipino People to be assured that their right of suffrage is respected and that every single vote is counted," said Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo, Caritas National Director.