PRESS STATEMENT
May 27, 2019

As the nation celebrates National Flag Day on May 28, the people should not also forget the fraud that had been flagged before, during and after election day.

Contrary to the call of some traditional politicians to just “move on,” Kontra Daya calls on the people to “move forward” by holding a protest action at the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) office at Palacio del Gobernador building, Gen. A. Luna St., Intramuros, Manila on May 29 (Wednesday), 10:00 a.m. The day coincides with the COMELEC’s en banc meeting to decide on various matters, including the petitions against the Duterte Youth.

The mass action is open to all those who assert that there were cheating and irregularities in the recently-held midterm polls, as well as those who demand transparency and accountability from the COMELEC in terms of the information it provides on the elections.

That the party-list system has been hijacked, bastardized and prostituted by the rich and powerful also needs to be stressed. The COMELEC cannot just conveniently cite existing laws that allegedly tie its hands. At this point where the likes of the Duterte Youth are “gaming” the system by installing an unqualified, overaged nominee to be a youth sectoral representative, the COMELEC cannot afford to further erode whatever integrity is left in the party-list system.

Aside from opposing the moves by former National Youth Commission (NYC) Chair Ronald Cardema to install himself as the Duterte Youth’s first nominee, Kontra Daya recently demanded that the COMELEC disclose all pending substitutions filed by other party-list groups.

As the COMELEC holds an en banc meeting on May 29 (Wednesday), it is hoped that the people who felt cheated by the machinations of the powers-that-be and triggered by the political arrogance of the few, be united in the call to oppose all forms of election fraud and demand transparency and accountability from a supposedly independent agency.

Contact person: Danilo Arao, convenor, Kontra Daya