The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said that if someone wants to manually count the votes from the 2025 elections again, they must first file an election protest. This was explained on Wednesday by Rex Laudiangco, the Comelec spokesperson.
Laudiangco was responding to a request made by Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, who is also a senatorial candidate currently in detention. Quiboloy, through his spokesperson, said he wanted a manual recount of the senatorial votes.
Laudiangco said clearly,
“If someone wants to question the vote results, the proper way is to file an election protest so we can begin the right process.”
What is a Manual Recount?
Laudiangco explained that a manual recount — which means counting the votes by hand again — only happens in two cases:
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Random Manual Audit (RMA) – This is where Comelec randomly checks some vote-counting machines to make sure they worked correctly. This is already being done now because it’s part of the law (Republic Act 9369).
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Election Protest – This is when a candidate officially files a complaint asking for a recount because they believe something went wrong during the voting or counting.
Not Just Anyone Can Ask for a Recount
The Comelec also said that if someone files an election protest, they need to give a reason why they think the votes need to be recounted. They must show proof of possible mistakes or cheating.
Laudiangco, who is also a lawyer, explained that the person protesting must choose certain areas — called pilot precincts — where they believe the problems happened. If the protester can’t prove there were problems in those areas, the protest will be dismissed, or stopped.
Why Is Quiboloy Asking for a Recount?
On Tuesday night, Quiboloy’s spokesperson, Atty. Israelito Torreon, posted on Facebook asking for a manual recount. He said there were many reports of problems such as:
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Too many votes being marked (overvoting),
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Ballot machines reading votes wrong, and
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Other election errors.
Torreon added that this isn’t about not trusting the election system. Instead, they want to make it stronger and more fair by making sure every vote was counted correctly. He said they would use legal ways to fix what they believe went wrong.
What’s Quiboloy’s Rank?
As of the latest count (unofficial), Quiboloy is at rank 31 out of 66 candidates in the senatorial race. He got about 5.579 million votes in the May 12 elections — not enough to win a seat in the Senate.
