Social media users falsely claim that shading of partylist at the back of Leni Robredo’s name will blot and count for the said presidential candidate.
Facebook user Angel Lotino posted the party list template ballot and said:
announcement at pakikalat po wag n wag bibilugan o piliin ang party list n nasa likod ng name ni leni robredo kz nacocount ang boto kay leni kz nag try s perpetual ng pcos machine nila nakakacount ang boto kay leni khit n naiboto mo c BBM... 3 beses cla nagtry at paulit ulit lng din n ganun nangyayari… CTTO
[announcement and spread to not shade or choose party list placed at the back of Leni Robredo’s name because the vote will count for leni. The PCOS machine was tested in perpetual and the vote was counted for Leni even if you voted for BBM… they tried thrice and the same thing happened. CTTO]
BBM is former senator and presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
No exact location for perpetual was mentioned, but also no perpetual school was listed in the National Capital Region 2022 National and Local Elections Project of Precincts.
Meanwhile, longer version of this message is being sent via private and group chat which reads:
announcement at pakikalat po wag n wag bibilugan o piliin ang party list n nasa likod ng name ni leni robredo kz nacocount ang boto kay leni kz nag try s perpetual ng pcos machine nila nakakacount ang boto kay leni khit n naiboto mo c BBM... 3 beses cla nagtry at paulit ulit lng din n ganun nangyayari.. kaya pala sa absentee voting sa abroad may pangyayari na bbm ang binoto pero leni ang lumalabas kaya kahit hindi tayo matulog sa pagbabantay ay pwede pa rin tayo madaya wag pumili ng party list na nasa tapat ng Pres at VP ang likod Copy paste nyo din pakikalat
[announcement and spread to not shade or choose party list placed at the back of Leni Robredo’s name because the vote will count for leni. The PCOS machine was tested in perpetual and the vote was counted for Leni even if you voted for BBM… they tried thrice and the same thing happened. In the absentee voting abroad, there was an incident that they voted BBM but Leni showed in the receipt. So even if we don’t sleep to watch, cheating is still possible. Don’t choose partylist that is placed at the back of the Pres (President) and VP (Vice President Copy paste and spread]
Election lawyer Emil Maranon III, clarified and said on his tweet last May 5:
We are currently experiencing a vicious black ops DISCOURAGING voters to FULLY SHADE the ovals of our candidates. Allegedly, tatagos daw sa likod. Remember by design, the ovals are NOT aligned, para kahit tumagos ang ink, hindi maapektuhan ang ovals sa other side ng ballot. [We are currently experiencing a vicious black ops DISCOURAGING voters to FULLY SHADE the ovals of our candidates. Allegedly, it will blot at the back. Remember by design, the ovals are NOt aligned, so if the ink blots, other ovals will not be affected.]
This was echoed by a fact check by ABS-CBN, wherein they quoted COMELEC Commissioner George Garcia clarifying the design of ballot:
Wala pong oval na magkatapat back and forth sa lahat ng positions. [There is no oval that overlaps back and forth in all positions.]
Interaksyon has also fact-checked a similar warning post that shading the Kabataan Party-list will blot and invalide or count for vice presidential candidate Sara Duterte.
The earliest post was posted on the night of May 8. According to the social media monitoring tool Crowdtangle, there are 27 similar public posts with an overall 3,489 interactions. (JL)