Fraud has started. Tarpaulins adorn our streets urging this and that personality to run. Commercials are now being aired starring politicians who have become instant product endorsers. Lest we forget, certain government officials are now making provincial rounds in the guise of consultations despite clear guidelines against non-essential travel and mass gathering.

For Kontra Daya, fraud happens when there is suspected misuse of government resources. While this point needs to be proven, we still cannot deny the fraud in the form of deception which is clearly established based on past election cycles. Even if they deny or keep mum about their political plans, these instant commercial models, tarpaulin hoggers and pandemic travelers are likely to run in the 2022 elections, thus making their presence felt as early as now.

In this context, we call on our citizens to remain vigilant and use the power of social media to our advantage. We strongly encourage all advocates of clean, honest and transparent elections to report any forms of election fraud:

1. Tarpaulins, billboards, flyers and other media prominently displaying the names and/or pictures of politicians.
2. Sign-up drives urging certain politicians to run.
3. Text messages from anonymous numbers purportedly on behalf of certain politicians.
4. Political surveys being conducted by LGUs or fly-by-night organizations.
5. Meetings, rallies or distribution of relief goods organized by certain groups in support of a politician.
6. Red-tagging of certain personalities, politicians or party-list groups and other forms of early negative campaigning.
7. Police and military operations against certain individuals and groups aimed to besmirch progressive politicians or party-list groups.
8. Other activities with a clear intent to get support in the 2022 elections or to negatively portray perceived opponents.

For those who have information, we suggest the following steps:

1. Take a photo or video of an event using your phone’s camera.
2. Take note of the time, date and place where the event happened.
3. Give a brief description of the event.
4. Send the photo/video, timestamp and description to Kontra Daya via email (kontradaya@gmailcom), Twitter (@kontradaya) or Facebook (kontra.daya).

For verification, please contact Assoc. Prof. Danilo Arao, convenor of Kontra Daya.