‘DAGHANG NI-REKLAMO’: Rama files election protest

Local

MICHAEL Rama won’t go quietly. The former Cebu City mayor and defeated mayoral candidatehas formally filed an election protest before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) against proclaimed winner Nestor Archival and outgoing Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia.

Rama confirmed to Cebu media that he filed the protest on Thursday, May 22, citing alleged election irregularities and questionable vote counts in Cebu City.

He is contesting the results of the 2025 midterm elections and is calling for a manual recount of votes.

Rama, who placed third in the mayoral race with 120,124 votes behind Archival’s 256,197 and Garcia’s 176,967, insisted that voters had raised serious concerns over the reliability of Automated Counting Machines (ACMs) used during the May 12 polls.

“Daghang ni-reklamo. Defective ang mga makina. We need to open the machines and look at the real results,” he previously said.

According to Rama, the technical issues may have unfairly affected his chances and benefited his rivals instead.

Rama maintained that his team had been receiving multiple complaints from voters who claimed discrepancies in their ballots, including instances where the names that appeared on the printouts did not match the candidates they voted for.

“Mayor, dili man mao ang nigawas sa ako gibotaran,” one voter reportedly told him.

Rama earlier raised these allegations during a press conference shortly after the proclamation of winners on May 13, where he refused to concede defeat.

“Do not force me to concede,” Rama said at the time, reiterating doubts about the integrity of the election system.

“We waited for one hour. This is too much. What is going on? If you’re opening a very confidential machine, you have to ensure everything runs smoothly,” he added.

He also questioned what he described as a “suspicious disparity” between the vote tallies in the city’s northern and southern districts.

Rama insisted his camp is not making baseless claims, but rather seeking clarity and accountability in the electoral process.

“Let’s not rush to conclusions. If there are questions about the numbers, we need to look closely and make sure everything is in order. The people deserve the truth,” he said.

He added that his legal team is already working to explore precedents and file appropriate legal remedies.

“If the numbers don’t add up, if the trends defy reason, we must scrutinize,” he said.

“We will do all necessary actions to reconcile the actual situation and the recent election result,” Rama added.

Rama is expected to return to Cebu on May 24, where he said he would hold a press conference to further discuss his protest.(TGP)