Comelec: Overseas ballot photo without Robredo's name ‘deliberately edited’

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday said the photo of an overseas ballot that did not contain the name of presidential candidate and Vice President Leni Robredo was "deliberately edited."

"The Office for Overseas Voting (OFOV) confirms that the photo showing an official ballot received by an overseas voter in New Zealand has been deliberately edited to make it appear that VP Robredo's name is missing from the list of Presidential candidates," the Comelec statement read.

The poll body said that the OFOV was coordinating closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Embassy in New Zealand to identify the persons responsible for editing the photo and for spreading the said photo on social media.

On Sunday, Comelec Commissioner George Garcia tagged the viral photo as "fake news."

Garcia explained that New Zealand uses only one template for its 2022 elections ballots and it is serialized, so such claims could be considered “fake news.”

“Fake news everywhere. Dami na namin referral sa NBI. One template lang sa New Zealand and serialized so kung may walang candidate, ‘di lang isa ang lalabas. [There are] at least 1,000 ballots for a batch of ballot ID no,” the commissioner explained.

(There is fake news everywhere. We have a lot of referrals to the NBI. There is just one template in New Zealand and it is serialized so if one candidate is missing, this will not only be apparent on one ballot. There are at least 1000 ballots for a batch of ballot ID numbers.)

The Comelec earlier established the Task Force Kontra Fake News to combat disinformation and counter any attempt to undermine the credibility of the electoral process.

Garcia himself is the chair of this task force.

Overseas voting for the 2022 polls started on April 10 and will end on May 9, or election day in the Philippines. — DVM, GMA News