Latest news with #GabrielaWomen'sParty
GMA Network
16-05-2025
- Politics
- GMA Network
Gabriela asks Comelec to look into alleged discrepancy in Eleksyon 2025 vote counts
Gabriela Women's Party-list sent a formal letter to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) requesting an investigation into the alleged discrepancy in the vote count during the midterm elections last May 12. The pro-women group claimed that there was a reduction in the number of votes they received. 'On May 12, 2025, as the National Elections commenced, votes were cast and promptly began to be tallied and ranked. At 2:03 AM, the Gabriela Women's Party had garnered 252,562 votes, according to data from COMELEC's transparency media server. However, by 2:20 AM, this number had inexplicably decreased by 49,614 votes," it said in its letter to Comelec chairperson George Garcia, attaching its screenshot of the count. 'This unexplained reduction raises serious concerns about the integrity and transparency of the electoral process. If votes for a sectoral party representing women and other vulnerable sectors can simply vanish without explanation, it risks disenfranchising not only the candidates but the countless women and marginalized communities whose voices they seek to represent,' the letter further read. In an earlier report, Comelec explained the alleged 'discrepancy' in the partial, unofficial tally of votes for Eleksyon 2025. Garcia said entities receiving election returns (ERs) from polling precincts, including the media, should have a software program to "clean" the data and prevent duplication of ERs. "Sumobra, sabi ng 5 million. Sapagkat hindi nagkaroon ng sinasabing program para malinis ang nadodoble as a result of processing. Walang dagdag-bawas na nangyari. Ang pagbabasehan niyo lagi kasi… 'yung Comelec website na nilalabas namin kasi ang Comelec website walang interruption. Tuloy-tuloy na nangyayari," he added. (They say there was an excess of 5 million votes. This happened because no program was in place to clean the duplicate data as a result of the processing. There was no vote shaving, vote padding that happened. You should always base your numbers on... the Comelec website because we don't have any interruption. Our operations are continuous.) Early Tuesday, media outfits found that partial, unofficial results reflected from the Comelec media server showed a decrease in votes despite the continuous increase in the ERs. They discovered that transmissions sent by precincts were duplicated during consolidation in the Comelec's server. According to a report by GMA Integrated News' Joseph Morong, an unnamed poll body official said the alleged discrepancy could be due to an aggregation tool. There was a possibility, the official said, that the data the Comelec sent piled up. Meanwhile, aside from the election-related anomalies, Gabriela noted that it has also been a victim of red-tagging and there were attacks on its members, leaders, and supporters throughout the campaign. 'The Gabriela Women's Party urgently calls on the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to thoroughly investigate these matters and ensure the accuracy and security of transmitted electoral data. GWP also strongly demands the initiation of a manual vote count to verify and uphold the sanctity of the people's vote,' the party said. 'The women who rely on GWP to advocate for their rights in Congress must not be silenced by system errors and targeted attacks,' it added. The letter was penned by party representative Arlene Brosas and first nominee Sarah Jane Elago. —LDF, GMA Integrated News
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Philippine divorce activists vow to fight on
In her bid to convince lawmakers to legalise divorce, Filipina fruit vendor Avelina Anuran has publicly testified about the abuse she said she regularly endured at the hands of her husband. She also keeps a copy of the medical certificate from the bloody injuries she says he inflicted, hoping it might one day serve as evidence in court. But the mother of two-turned-activist has gotten no closer to ending her marriage. The Philippines is one of just two countries -- along with Vatican City -- where divorce remains illegal. Last week, the latest attempt to introduce a divorce law evaporated as the upper house ended its session without even a hearing. "They kept passing it around," Anuran said. The last time such legislation made its way to the Senate in 2019, she painstakingly detailed her experience for a public hearing. But the bill foundered. Spouses have a "right to be free", she told AFP, adding that she would keep pushing for a law. "Hopefully it will (pass) next year, with new senators coming in." - Nullification - Ending a marriage in the deeply Catholic society of 117 million is possible only via annulment or "nullification". But few Filipinos can afford the fee of up to $10,000, and the process does not consider domestic violence, abandonment or infidelity as qualifying grounds. "I just want to be free from this marriage," said Anuran, whose estranged husband remains the beneficiary on a life insurance policy she cannot change without his consent. Campaigners like Anuran believe the tide of public support for divorce is turning, with surveys showing about half of Filipinos now firmly back a change. Before taking office in 2022, President Ferdinand Marcos said he was open to supporting divorce. But the latest effort to introduce such a bill still faced strong opposition in the Senate. The proposed law would have compelled courts to provide free legal and psychological assistance to low-income petitioners, capped lawyers' fees at 50,000 pesos ($859) and mandated divorce petitions be resolved within a year. The divorce bill's co-author, lawmaker Arlene Brosas, said it was "unacceptable" that the Senate had refused to tackle the measure given the "strong public demand". She said her Gabriela Women's Party will refile it when a newly elected Congress convenes in July. "We will continue fighting for the divorce bill, no matter the composition of the Senate and House of Representatives in the next term," Brosas told AFP. - 'Afraid of backlash' - The previous bill was likely influenced by the mid-term elections in May, family lawyer Lorna Kapunan told AFP. "Because (half of senators) are seeking re-election, they are afraid of the backlash of the Catholic Church," Kapunan said. Senate President Francis Escudero had argued the bill would "create divisiveness", suggesting instead that the grounds for nullification could be expanded while avoiding the word "divorce". Father Jerome Secillano of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, meanwhile said divorce contravenes the Church's teachings on marriage and would ultimately destroy families. "We will see more couples separating. We will see children who don't know where to go," Secillano told AFP. He also argued the number of domestic abuse victims would "double" as divorced men would "have another chance to be violent again" to new spouses. Kapunan called the existing laws "very complicated, very expensive, very anti-woman and anti-child". Despite the opposition and failed previous attempts to legalise divorce, Anuran remains determined. "No one's backing down. Win or lose, the fight will continue." pam-jae/cgm/cwl/lb
