In the old stone hall of the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros, Manila, the state's election commission and four partner bodies bound themselves on a Friday in late August to a simple but weighty discipline: to count by hand, at random, and check the machines against the people's own tally before the Bangsamoro region votes for its parliament in 2026. Machines may be tested, certified and reviewed, yet a democracy still asks whether what they say matches what the voters chose. The pact is a quiet admission that trust in any counting system is earned, sampled and sometimes re-earned, and it
Comelec Signs Agreement for Final Random Manual Audit of BARMM 2026 Parliamentary Election
The last opportunity to check whether the machines were counting correctly
Mark
Why does a signing ceremony matter here? The audit sounds like it was always going to happen.
Mimi
The signing puts the audit into a formal agreement with five parties: Comelec, PPCRV, NAMFREL, the PSA and DepEd. It sets out who is involved before any ballots are counted.
Mark
What is the audit actually checking?
Mimi
Whether machine-generated results match votes counted by hand. Garcia called it the final check on whether the machines counted correctly and procedures were followed.
Luke
But the machines already passed tests, certification and source code review. So what does the audit add?
Mimi
It tests real results rather than the system in principle. Garcia's point was that passing the tests doesn't settle it if the manual and machine counts barely match.
Luke
Worth noting that he didn't name a threshold. We don't know what counts as a low match rate, and the report doesn't say.
Mark
He also asked people to watch materials before election day. Why?
Mimi
He wants watchers to follow materials from hubs to provinces and municipalities, and on to teachers, and he said parties may put CCTV where they're stored.
Luke
And the pre-shaded ballot point is Garcia's view that the early voting window could help detect them. The report gives no evidence that any have been found. It's a safeguard he described, not a finding.
Mark
So what's the thing to watch?
Mimi
The audit results, and whether the groups he named actually do the monitoring.
O Pulso
- The commission has signed a random manual audit pact that will test whether vote-counting machines match hand counts in the BARMM parliamentary polls.
- Chairman George Garcia warns that a low match rate would cast doubt on the entire automated system, even after certification.
- Political parties, civil society groups and citizens are being urged to watch election materials from storage through distribution to teachers.
- Some parties may install CCTV in storage areas, while pre-shaded ballots found in the early 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. window can be reported immediately.
- The next flashpoints are the audit's match results and whether watchers actually take up the monitoring call before voting begins.
In the old stone hall of the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros, Manila, the state's election commission and four partner bodies bound themselves on a Friday in late August to a simple but weighty discipline: to count by hand, at random, and check the machines against the people's own tally before the Bangsamoro region votes for its parliament in 2026. Machines may be tested, certified and reviewed, yet a democracy still asks whether what they say matches what the voters chose. The pact is a quiet admission that trust in any counting system is earned, sampled and sometimes re-earned, and it invites parties, civic groups and ordinary citizens to keep watch over the ballots from the moment they begin to move.
On Friday, Aug. 28, the Commission on Elections gathered in the Chairman's Hall of the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros to sign a memorandum of agreement that sets the rules for a Random Manual Audit of the 2026 Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections. Chairman George Garcia signed for Comelec, joined by Agnes A. Gervacio of PPCRV, Angel S. Averia Jr. of NAMFREL, Clemente S. Manaog of the Philippine Statistics Authority, and Roger B. Masapol of the Department of Education.
Speaking afterward in an ambush interview, Garcia called the audit the final check on the election. The machines have already passed testing, certification and source code review, he said, but the audit asks whether their results match hand counts. A low match rate, even with international certification in hand, would raise real questions about the automated system.
Garcia also urged political parties, candidates, sectoral groups and citizens' arms to watch election materials well before polling day, following their movement to hubs, provinces, municipalities and teachers. Parties may install CCTV where materials are stored, since Comelec rules allow it. He stressed the final testing and sealing of the machines as the last chance to confirm they count and accept ballots correctly, and pointed to the 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. window for seniors, persons with disabilities and pregnant women as a moment to catch pre-shaded ballots, which can be reported to Comelec at once.
What comes next is the audit's match rate and whether the watchers Garcia called for step forward.
On Friday, Aug. 28, in the Chairman's Hall of the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros, Manila, the Commission on Elections signed a memorandum of agreement setting out how the Random Manual Audit will be conducted for the 2026 Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Parliamentary Elections.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia signed for the commission. Four other signatories joined him: Agnes A. Gervacio, a trustee of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV); Angel S. Averia Jr., national chairperson of the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL); Clemente S. Manaog, a Director 3 at the Philippine Statistics Authority; and Roger B. Masapol, an assistant secretary at the Department of Education.
Speaking to reporters in an ambush interview after the signing, Garcia described the audit as the final check on the election. In his telling, it would show whether the machines counted votes correctly and whether election procedures were properly carried out. He spoke in a mix of Filipino and English.
Garcia noted that the vote-counting machines have already been through testing, certification and source code review. The audit asks a different question: whether the results the machines produce match the votes when they are counted by hand. He said that even with the required tests passed and international certification in hand, a low percentage of matches between manual and machine counts would raise questions about the automated election system.
The chairman also turned to what happens before voting day. He urged political parties, candidates, sectoral organizations, civil society groups and citizens' arms to watch election materials not only at the precincts but throughout their movement and storage. By his account, watchers should follow the arrival of materials at hubs, provinces and municipalities, and their distribution to teachers. Parties and candidates may also install closed-circuit television cameras where materials are stored, since Comelec rules do not prohibit that kind of monitoring.
Garcia gave particular weight to the final testing and sealing of the machines. He called it the last opportunity, before voting begins, to confirm that the machines count correctly and accept ballots properly.
He also pointed to the 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. voting window reserved for senior citizens, persons with disabilities and pregnant women. In his view, that early period could help expose pre-shaded ballots. Any ballot found to have been shaded in advance, he said, can be reported to Comelec immediately, and the commission would then take appropriate action at the affected precinct.
The agreement itself formalizes the audit's arrangements among the five signatories. What to watch next is the audit's match rate between machine and manual counts, which Garcia has framed as the measure of the system, and whether parties and civil society groups take up the monitoring of materials he urged.
Citações Notáveis
The random manual audit is very important because it would show whether the machines counted correctly and whether the election procedures were properly implemented.— Comelec Chairman George Garcia
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Leia o original em The Manila Times ↗
Politics & Governance