MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled against the appeals from religious and civil leaders that wanted the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to perform a manual count of ballots at the precinct level as it would defeat the purpose of having a law mandating automated elections.
The high tribunal unanimously voted to dismiss the petition for certiorari filed by San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, Kidapawan Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo, retired military officials Wilfredo Franco, Edgardo Ingking, Noel delos Reyes and Reynaldo Reyes, Col. Guillermo Cunanan, Capt. Roberto Yap, Cesar Melencio and Alexander Lacson “for lack of merit.”
Their petition supposedly wanted the high tribunal to order the Comelec “to promulgate rules and regulations for the manual counting of votes at the precinct level as allegedly mandated by Republic Act No. 9369 or the Automated Election Law.”
They lodged their pleading after the poll body did not respond to their similar letter in January 2025, months ahead of the scheduled midterm elections in May, eventually accusing them of committing grave abuse of discretion.
They argued “Section 31 of Republic Act No. 9369 mandates that official ballots be read and counted by the chairperson of the BEI (board of election inspectors) at the precinct level in a public and transparent manner,” and that the word “shall” in the provision “connotes a mandatory obligation to conduct manual counting.”
“This argument is untenable. A plain reading of RA No. 9369 in its entirety reveals that the legislative intent was to modernize the Philippine electoral process through the implementation of an AES (automated election system),” according to the 11-page decision penned by SC Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh and promulgated last Oct. 28, 2025.