President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has urged Filipinos to exercise their right to vote responsibly and protect the integrity of the democratic process. The President made that statement yesterday morning in Batac as he joined the estimated 70 million registered voters in casting their ballots in the 2025 midterm elections.

Like a regular voter, the President lined up and received his ballot from a teacher serving as an election officer.

Seated and preparing to shade his ballot, the President glanced out the window and smiled at the other voters outside the polling precinct. He completed shading the circles beside the names of the candidates of his choice in about a minute.

The results of the 2025 midterm elections will show to the world the maturity of the Filipinos in choosing their leaders: it’s a test for our nation’s future.

Whether at the national or local level, this was an electoral contest that we could not take lightly or ignore.

Let us see if the Commission on Elections made a wise decision when it retired the decade-old Smartmatic vote-counting machines it used since the 2016 elections and replaced them with new equipment from Korean firm Miru Systems.

When I voted very early yesterday morning, I found the Miru System simpler and faster, but let us see. The Smartmatic was more complicated and took longer to complete the voting process. Let us judge by the experience of our voters in the other regions, compare and then make our comments and observations.

Last year, the Korean company was the lone bidder for a government contract worth P17.9 billion to provide 110,000 automated counting machines for the midterm pools.

There was, however, a report that Miru had faced controversy in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq. Critics said the company’s technology was prone to hacking and fraud. The Korean company denied the claim.

Voting in the 12 May 2025 midterm elections started at 6 o’clock in the morning with over 68 million registered voters throughout the country choosing from 66 senatorial candidates and 160 partylist groups who were competing for 12 Senate seats and 64 partylist representative positions, respectively.

The elections will also decide who will take the 254 House of Representatives seats, 82 governorships, and countless local posts, including for mayor, vice mayor, and Sangguniang member at various levels. Voters in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao chose parliamentary and party members, underscoring the election’s scope and significance.

As the campaign period intensified and ended, the Comelec doubled down on ensuring the peace and security of everyone. The Comelec reminded the public to cooperate with the authorities at election points to maintain order in what was shaping up to be one of the most hotly contested elections in recent years.

Meanwhile, the Marcos-Duterte feud heated up.

The Senate race pitted candidates backed by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. against those supported by Vice President Sara Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte. If Marcos’s Senate bets win more seats, this increases the chances of impeaching Sara Duterte for alleged misuse of state funds. This would bar her from seeking the presidency in 2028.

Email: artbesana@gmail.com