Poll watchdog urges: Probe Comelec bribe allegations

Election watchdog Kontra Daya on Friday staged a protest outside Commission on Elections (Comelec) office to call for an independent probe on the poll body’s bribery allegations.

Kontra Daya convenor Kim Cantillas said that the protest stemmed from the allegations that the poll body had received bribes from South Korean firm Miru Systems — the firm that will provide the automated vote-counting machines for the 2025 midterm elections.

“There should be an investigation addressing the alleged bribery done by Miru and tell the truth to the public,” Cantillas said. “We’re clamoring for a democratic, clean, and transparent election where each voter could see their votes being counted correctly.”

To recall, Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia on Wednesday asked the

Anti-Money Laundering Council to probe the allegations that he was accepting bribes from a South Korean firm through offshore banks.

Meantime, poll body thumbed down the idea of a hybrid poll system next year, saying that it would violate the law which requires an automated method for the holding of the polls.

“It’s because the automation law mandates pure automation and the budget given to us by the government is for pure automation only,” said Garcia in a statement.

Republic Act 9369 or the Election Automation Law, enacted in 2007, authorized the poll body to use an automated election system in subsequent national and local elections.

The law aims to ensure transparency, credibility, fairness, and accuracy of elections in the country. The Philippines’ first automated polls took place in May 2010.

Under a hybrid method, Garcia said it would take several days for votes to be counted.