The Philippine Embassy in Singapore has denied reports of voters receiving pre-shaded ballots when they cast their votes for the 2022 elections on April 11.
In a Facebook post, the Embassy reiterated its commitment to ensuring a clean and honest voting process for Filipinos in Singapore.
"It has come to the attention of the Philippine Embassy that some unverified sources allege that pre-shaded ballots have been given to voters who came to the Embassy to cast their vote today. This is not true," the Facebook post read.
"The Embassy assures the public that it is totally committed to providing a system of honest and orderly overseas absentee voting that upholds the integrity of the voting process," it added.
The Embassy said that a different incident took place, but it was an isolated one.
"The Embassy is aware of only one incident wherein one spoiled ballot from yesterday's voting exercise was inadvertently and unintentionally given to a voter this morning. This was subsequently recorded in the official OVF No. 11-A (Minutes of Voting for AES Voting Posts)," it said.
"We wish to stress that this was an isolated incident," it added.
The 30-day overseas absentee voting (OAV) for the 2022 Philippine National Elections in Singapore opened on April 10. Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Joseph del Mar Yap hoped that Filipino voters in Singapore would be able to sustain the country's voting track record for the 2022 election. In the past two elections, Singapore was one of the top countries with the highest overseas voter turnout, not only in the Asia Pacific region but in the world.
Members of the Embassy's various electoral boards, composed of Embassy personnel and representatives, who are duly deputized and trained by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to conduct personal voting using the automated election system, facilitated the successful voter turnout of a record of 2,370 voters during the first voting day.
To encourage more Filipino voters in Singapore to exercise their right of suffrage and lead by example, Deputy Chief of Mission and Consul General Adrian Bernie Candolada cast his ballot, the first among the 83,229 Filipino registered voters in Singapore.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Embassy continues to strongly encourage all registered voters in Singapore to exercise their right to vote during the 30–day voting period.