The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has advised detained senatorial candidate Apollo Quiboloy to file an official election protest if he wants a manual recount of the 2025 senatorial votes.
Comelec spokesperson Rex Laudiangco said on Wednesday that a manual recount can only be triggered either through a random manual audit (RMA)—which is already underway—or through a formal election protest.
“Our advice to any party questioning the results is simple: follow the legal process and file a protest,” Laudiangco told the media.
He explained that any such protest must include valid reasons and identify pilot precincts to support claims of irregularities. If no inconsistencies are found in the pilot precincts, the protest would likely be dismissed.
Quiboloy, who is currently detained, called for a recount citing alleged anomalies such as overvoting and ballot-reading issues. His spokesperson, Israelito Torreon, emphasized the request was a push for election integrity, not a rejection of democracy.
As of the latest unofficial count, Quiboloy was in 31st place out of 66 senatorial candidates with over 5.57 million votes.