Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia allayed fears about the so-called "dagdag-bawas" scheme in the upcoming May 2025 polls, stating that such a thing is "impossible" in automated elections.
"Ginagarantiya po natin sa lahat, sa sambayanan, imposible po yung dagdag bawas sa isang automated election. Simula po noong 2010 wala pong napatunayan kahit isang presinto (We assure everyone, the public, that manipulation during an automated election is impossible. Since 2010, not a single precinct has been proven to have any discrepancies)," Garcia said in a chance interview on Monday, March 24.
He explained that it would be easy to verify whether the votes had been counted and transmitted. Aside from printing the election returns that will be posted outside the polling places, they will also be able to confirm that the transmitted and printed votes are accurate.
All ballot images from each polling place will be shown to all watchers and citizens' arms, and they will also conduct a Random Manual Audit (RMA).
Garcia said this after Vice President Sara Duterte mentioned that her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who remains detained, expressed fears about "dagdag-bawas" or the tampering of votes.
Speaking to Duterte supporters in The Hague, Netherlands over the weekend, the Vice President shared this after visiting her father who asked about the election situation in the Philippines.
"So, iyon ‘yung napag-usapan kanina, iyong kampanya at eleksyon na nangyayari sa ating bayan. At nag-express din siya ng fears niya, apprehensions niya, sa baka merong mangyaring dagdag-bawas, iyong mga ganoon na mga usapan sa eleksyon, sa halalan (So, that’s what we talked about earlier—the campaign and the elections happening in our town. He also expressed his fears and apprehensions about the possibility of vote tampering and other similar issues related to the elections)," she said.
Despite his arrest, Comelec said Duterte remains a candidate for Davao City mayor in the May 2025 National and Local Elections.
Duterte and his son, incumbent Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, filed their Certificates of Candidacy (COC) for Davao City mayor and vice mayor, respectively, on October 7.
Garcia said that concerns of some regarding the possibility of vote tampering are baseless since such things didn't occur even back in 2010.
Aside from the RMA, Garcia explained that all citizens' arms of NAMFREL and PPCRV, in addition to the hard copies of election returns that will be provided to them, and aside from the transmitted results from the precincts, will also be granted permission to capture the so-called QR code that contains the total vote count from the precinct.
"So napakaraming paraan to verify, to countercheck lahat ng results sa bawat presinto (So napakaraming paraan to verify, to countercheck lahat ng results sa bawat presinto)," he added.