The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has clarified that it lacks the budget for a manual recount of votes for Eleksyon 2025, emphasizing that the current law supports fully automated elections.
Chairman George Garcia stated that under Republic Act No. 9369 (Automated Election Law), manual vote counting is not provided for, aside from the mandated random manual audit (RMA) done after elections. “We’ve never had budget allocations for full manual counts since automated elections began in 2010,” Garcia said during a Super Radyo dzBB interview.
He raised key concerns: “If we allow a manual count, who will do it? Where? How much will it cost? What’s the process?”
Comelec recently began the RMA across over 700 randomly chosen precincts, carried out by auditing teams composed of teachers who didn’t serve in the May 12 elections.
The call for a manual recount came from detained senatorial candidate Apollo Quiboloy. But Garcia stressed that only an election protest can trigger such action, and now that winning senators have been proclaimed, jurisdiction shifts to the Senate Electoral Tribunal.
Garcia also urged lawmakers to consider revising the 2007 Automated Election Law, calling it outdated amid modern technological developments. “It’s time we draft new laws or overhaul the existing one,” he added. “Until then, Comelec must enforce only what is legally in place.”