SC rejects bid to revive manual vote counting in Philippine elections

National

EFFORTS to revive manual ballot counting in Philippine elections hit a legal dead end after the Supreme Court ruled that automation remains the clear intent of election laws.

In a unanimous ruling, the high tribunal denied 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.”

In a Philstar report, the petitioners wanted the SC to direct the Comelec to issue rules requiring manual counting of votes at polling precincts, arguing that such a process was mandated under Republic Act No. 9369.

The group filed the petition after the poll body allegedly failed to respond to a letter they sent in January 2025, ahead of the May midterm elections. They later accused the Comelec of grave abuse of discretion.

Central to their argument was their interpretation of Section 31 of RA 9369, which they said required ballots to be publicly read and counted by the chairperson of the board of election inspectors at the precinct level. They also argued that the use of the word “shall” in the provision imposed a mandatory duty to conduct manual counting.

The SC, however, disagreed and said the law must be interpreted in the context of the entire statute, which was enacted to modernize the country’s electoral process through an automated election system.

“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),” the tribunal said in its 11-page decision, as quoted by Philstar.

The ruling was penned by Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh and promulgated on Oct. 28, 2025.(MyTVCebu)