Defeated senatorial candidate Philip Salvador expressed his support for manual counting after he received some complaints from voters that they were uncertain of what happened to their votes.
In an interview, Salvador urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to demonstrate transparency by manually counting the results for the 2025 midterm elections.
“Alam niyo po madami ang nagtatanong na kapwa Pilipino. Ano po ang nangyari sa boto namin?” said Salvador.
“Yung manual counting sinasabi ng mga kasama doon ako nakikinig,” he added.
Salvador got 10,145,595 votes, putting him in 19th place among senatorial candidates.
It can be recalled that another defeated senatorial candidate, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, also called for manual counting.
NO BUDGET FOR MANUAL COUNTING
However, the Comelec admitted they had no budget to fund manual counting.
According to Comelec chairman George Garcia, the Automated Election Law must be amended to make it easier for them to grant the request for manual counting.
“Wala po kasi tayong budget para diyan sa mga pagbibilang na ganyan kung talaga bang ‘yan ay pine-prescribe. Bakit? Simula nu’ng 2010 na nag-automated election tayo, ay wala po tayong mga ganyang klaseng pagbilang,” Garcia said.
“Kung pagbibigyan natin sila, sino po magbibilang? Saan bibilangin? Magkano ang budget? Saan kukuhain ang budget? Anong proseso? Anong procedure ng pagbilang?” he added.
Garcia said that the only way for a manual counting to happen is via an election protest.