Latest news with #OmnibusElectionCode
GMA Network
24-07-2025
- Politics
- GMA Network
Asian poll observers urge update of PH Election Code, flag 'systemic issues'
An international observer from the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) watches as Filipino staff conduct a random manual audit of ballots in Eleksyon 2025 on Thursday, May 15, 2025. Courtesy: ANFREL - Asian Network for Free Elections/ Facebook The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) launched Thursday its final election observation report for Eleksyon 2025, stressing the impact of "systemic issues," such vote-buying and political dynasties, that undermine the country's electoral integrity. The international poll observers reported their key findings and proposed a two-part reform roadmap for the Philippine elections, including short-term and long-term actions such as: strengthening of crowd management enhancing of voting accessibility conducting a full nationwide and more realistic mock elections ensuring transparency in all activities of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Meanwhile, long-term actions include the ANFREL's call for the review and amendment of the Omnibus Election Code, particularly the elimination of outdated provisions; update of definitions of electoral offenses and enforcement procedures; and incorporation of provisions for automation, digital security, and online campaign regulation. The European Union (EU) Election Observation Mission, which also sent a delegation to the Philippines to observe the conduct of Eleksyon 2025, had also called for updates to the Omnibus Election Code, saying nearly half of its provisions were already outdated. ANFREL also urged for the institutionalization of the Comelec Vulnerable Sectors Office (VSO) and Political Finance Affairs Department (PFAD), as well as the banning of political dynasties. The final report said, "ANFREL concludes that while the 2025 elections were generally well-administered, deep-rooted structural challenges continue to compromise the credibility and competitiveness of the electoral process." "Sustained reforms, particularly in campaign finance, party-list regulation, and abuse of state resources, are essential to strengthening electoral integrity and fostering democratic accountability in the Philippines," it said. The report added: "ANFREL calls for continued engagement between COMELEC, civil society, and political stakeholders to address these issues and ensure more inclusive, competitive, and transparent elections in the future." In its interim report released last May, ANFREL flagged the abuse of state resources and vote-buying as "disturbing factors" in the recent midterm polls. It also raised the need to expand the coverage of the Comelec Committee on Kontra Bigay to include the "ayuda" or cash dole outs to "level the playing field." The Philippines held its midterm elections on May 12. — VDV, GMA Integrated News For more Eleksyon 2025 related content and updates, visit GMA News Online's Eleksyon 2025 microsite.
GMA Network
18-07-2025
- Politics
- GMA Network
Imee Marcos eyes new Omnibus Election Code
Voters fill out their ballots at Silang Central Elementary School in Silang, Cavite on Monday, May 12, 2025, for the midterm national and local elections. SANDRA AGUINALDO/ GMA Integrated News Senator Imee Marcos has filed a measure seeking to revise and recodify all the election statutes, paving the way for the New Omnibus Election Code of 2025. In the explanatory note of Senate Bill 425, Marcos, chairman of the Senate committee on electoral reforms and people's participation, said certain provisions of the 1985 Omnibus Election Code are "outrightly ill-suited for modern times." "The [OEC] is well more than three decades old. Since the inception of the OEC, there have been many significant changes in the manner by which elections are conducted," the senator said. "Likewise, regulations and limitations under the OEC have since been proven inadequate to realistically ensure a more level-playing field for candidates," she added. In 2023, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) finished a 964-page draft of proposed amendments to the Omnibus Election Code, according to poll chairman George Garcia. He said the proposed revisions include provisions on the overhaul of the party-list system and changes in campaign finance. The European Union (EU) Election Observation Mission, which sent a delegation to monitor Eleksyon 2025, said in its report that nearly half of the provisions of the Omnibus Election Code, including those for campaign finance and election offenses, are already "outdated." Those provisions, the report said, were already superseded by the 1987 Constitution and by numerous subsequent laws and regulations. BSKE term of office Under Marcos' bill, the Comelec shall have exclusive charge of enforcement and administration of all laws and regulations to the conduct of election, plebiscite, initiative, referendum, and recall for the purpose of ensuring free orderly and honest elections. The measure also provides for the conduct of a hybrid election system—a combination of the automated election system and the manual election system—to ensure transparency and credibility of the electoral processes. This hybrid election system shall be applicable to the May 2028 elections and all national, local, and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) polls thereafter. The bill also stated that the term of office of all elected barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (BSKE) officials shall be four years. The BSKE elections will be held on the first Monday of November 2026 and every four years thereafter. No elective barangay official shall also serve for more than three consecutive terms in the same positions, while no elective SK official shall serve for more than one term in the same post. Party-list, substitution The bill also classified the party-list system into: a) political parties or coalition of political parties; and b) sectoral parties or organizations. Each of these classifications shall have 50% of the seats allocated for the party-list. Each registered party, organization, or coalition shall submit to the Comelec a list of names of not less than five nominees from which party-list representatives shall be chosen in case it obtains the required number of votes, together with the certificates of nomination and acceptance of all the nominees in such list. Substitution shall also be allowed for any nominee who dies, becomes physically incapacitated, or has been disqualified. "No substitution shall be allowed for nominees who withdrew their acceptance to the nomination. In the event the list of nominees of a party-list group is exhausted because of the withdrawal of all its nominees, such party, organization, or coalition shall be deemed to have withdrawn its manifestation of intent to participate in the elections," the bill noted. Only a person belonging to and nominated by the same political party may file a certificate of candidacy to replace any official candidate who died, became incapacitated, or was disqualified after the last day of the filing of certificates of candidacy (COCs). In all cases of substitution after the period for filing of COCs, the substitute candidate must have the same surname as the candidate being substituted for. Cha-cha The proposed measure also states that a petition for an initiative on the 1987 Constitution must have at least 12% of the total number of registered voters as signatories, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least 3% of the registered voters. Initiative on the Constitution may also be exercised only once every five years. So far in the 20th Congress, only Senator Robin Padilla has filed a resolution seeking to revise the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines through a constitutional convention. — VDV, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
03-07-2025
- Politics
- GMA Network
EU poll observers: Almost 50% of PH election code outdated
Poll observers from the European Union turn over their final report on the 2025 Philippine midterm national and local elections on July 2, 2025. Photo by: Comelec Nearly half of the provisions of the Omnibus Election Code, including those for campaign finance and election offenses, are already outdated, the European Union (EU) Election Observation Mission reported Thursday. The EU poll observers, led by its chief Marta Temido, highlighted this in their report following the conduct of the May 12, 2025 midterm polls. "Although the election code remains the main source of electoral legislation, it is estimated that nearly half of its provisions are outdated, having been superseded by the Constitution, enacted two years after, and by numerous subsequent laws and regulations," the report read. "Specific provisions and entire sections of the electoral code that are no longer valid refer, for example, to the registration of voters and candidates, the campaign and campaign finance, voting and counting procedures, election observation and electoral offenses," the report read. Further, the poll observers' report stated that the election code has not been updated, as articles that are no longer applicable have not been repealed yet remain in place. "This [situation] is making it difficult to determine which provisions are still in force and which have been rendered inoperative by more recent legal acts," the report said. The Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines, or Batas Pambansa 881, was enacted in December 1985 during the administration of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Fact-checking 'uncommon' The country's social media environment, the report added, is divided along political dynasties and the supporters, while the digital literacy of the Filipino population was deemed low to moderate. "While there are several fact-checking initiatives, the EU poll observers said verifying online news remains relatively uncommon among Filipinos," the report said. While articles and videos generally maintained a high level of discussion, the EU poll observers said the authenticity could not be said for comments sections and reactions. "EU EOM interlocutors noted that troll farms have become harder to detect due to their decentralised operations, unlike past tactics using identical messages and hashtags," the report pointed out. "The DICT reported several cases to Meta when coordinated naratives stemmed from a foreign source or when mass messages were identical, while TikTok removed three troll farms. Despite broad agreement on the issue's scale, some groups... were seen as both trolling and expressing authentic political views," the report read. To address these problems, the EU poll observes called for a sustainable support system for independent media and investigative journalism and fact checking. "Fact checking should be further strengthened and maintained, alongside continued expansion of media and digital literacy programmes for all strata of society," the report added. — VDV, GMA Integrated News For more Eleksyon 2025 related content and updates, visit GMA News Online's Eleksyon 2025 microsite.
GMA Network
02-07-2025
- Politics
- GMA Network
EU observers give Comelec their final report on Eleksyon 2025
The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) turns over its Final Report and Recommendations for the May 12, 2025 National and Local Elections to the Commission on Elections at Comelec headquarters in Palacio del Gobernador, Intramuros, Manila on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. Photo: Commission on Elections The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday said it will review the recommendations of the European Union (EU) poll observers on the recent 2025 national and local elections (NLE). Members of the EU observation mission met with Comelec officials to formally turn over their final election observation report and recommendations, months after the conclusion of the May 12 midterm polls. 'Ang pangako ng lahat ng bawat isang miyembro ng Comelec kanina, aaralin at kung may mga bagay na maisasama sa proposal na revised Omnibus Election Code (OEC) ay isasama pa namin para maisaayos,' Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco told reporters. (The promise of each and every Comelec en banc member is to review the report and if there is any recommendation that may be included in the proposal for the revised OEC, then we will include it.) In April, the EU launched the election observation mission for Eleksyon 2025, deploying an initial 200 observers. More poll observers arrived in the country the following month. The international observers released their initial report on May 14, flagging widespread vote-buying; the continued dominance of political families; election-related violence, including on election day; and a legal framework that is fragmented and lacks grievance mechanisms. According to Laudiangco, among the EU poll observers' recommendations are decreasing the number of voters per precinct to shorten lines. They also reiterated the issues on vote buying, and violence, and lauded the poll body's transparency efforts, engagement with media, and expeditious actions on complaints of discrimination, and red-tagging. 'Mukhang ang susi kasi sa lahat ng nakitang observations, dalawang bagay: pagbabago sa legislation at pagpapalaki ng pondo. Kung masosolusyunan ang dalawang bagay na ito, tingin namin pareho, magagampanan namin ang sinasabi nilang international standard at mas magandang pagpapalakad ng halalan,' he added. (We saw that the key to these observations are two things: the amendment of election laws and a higher budget for the polls. If a way can be found for these, we think we will be able to attain the international standard and a better way of conducting elections.) The EU observation team said it will also submit its final report and recommendations to Congress. The Philippines held its midterm polls on May 12. — BM, GMA Integrated News For more Eleksyon 2025 related content and updates, visit GMA News Online's Eleksyon 2025 microsite.
GMA Network
18-06-2025
- Politics
- GMA Network
Comelec lifts proclamation suspension vs. Manila councilor
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc on Wednesday lifted the suspension on the proclamation of Darwin Sia, who won a seat in the Sangguniang Panlungsod of the second district of Manila in the 2025 national and local elections (NLE). According to a ruling dated June 18, this is in compliance with a temporary restraining order (TRO) the Supreme Court (SC) issued against the Comelec decision in May. 'In compliance with the TRO issued by the SC on 22 May 2025 enjoining the Commission on Elections from implementing the Resolution of the Commission (Second Division) and the Commission (En Banc) in SPA No. 24-263 (DC) promulgated on 21 March 2025 and 05 May 2025, respectively, the Order of the Commission (En Banc) dated 12 May 2025 insofar as the Respondent Darwin B. Sia is concerned, is hereby lifted, effective immediately,' the ruling reads. 'The City Board of Canvassers of the 2nd District of Manila, are hereby directed to reconvene within five days from the receipt of this Order for the purpose of proceeding with the proclamation of Respondent as a winning candidate for the position of Member, Sangguniang Panglungsod in the 2nd District of the City of Manila,' it added. Sia was disqualified for material misrepresentation when he filed his candidacy despite being convicted of electricity pilferage, which, according to the Comelec, constitutes moral turpitude. Under the Omnibus Election Code, an individual is disqualified to be a candidate for an elective position and to hold any office if such a person has been sentenced by a final judgment for a crime involving moral turpitude. The Comelec en banc upheld the decision to cancel his COC earlier this month. Despite the Comelec's decision, Sia garnered the highest number of votes for councilor in Manila's second district in the May 12 elections. —LDF, GMA Integrated News
