(Photo: Bongbong Marcos/Facebook)
MANILA—After receiving several reports from Filipino voters abroad on the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV), vice presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. plans to file a formal complaint before the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
The lawmaker noted that they were currently gathering evidence from people abroad who had personal knowledge of the incidents wherein votes cast in his favor were credited to other candidates in the receipts.
“We are in the process of collating all complaints, all data in preparation for the filing of a complaint before the Comelec regarding the controversy. We will exert all efforts to get to the bottom of this,” he said.
Marcos revealed that voter receipt discrepancies were reported in Hong Kong, Dubai, Kuwait, Japan, California, USA.With this, Marcos urged Filipinos abroad to exercise their right of suffrage.
“I still encourage our kababayans abroad to exercise their right to elect leaders whom they think will be instrumental in the development of the country, so they won’t even have to leave their families to work abroad,” he said.
On Wednesday, the Comelec reported that a total of 191,427 Filipino voters or 13.9 percent of the 1,376,067 registered voters abroad have so far cast their votes.
The month-long OAV started last April 9 and will run until May 9.