The widespread irregularities and violence in the May 9 national elections in the Philippines undermined the democratic process that “took place in the most repressive context since the time of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos,” said Séverine de Laveleye, member of the Chamber of Representatives of the Federal Parliament of Belgium and Commisioner of the  International Observer Mission to the Philippine elections, when she presented the IOM interim report.

The independent delegation visited the regions of Central Luzon, Metro Manila, Southern Luzon, Central Visayas, Western Visayas and Mindanao from the start of the campaign period in February until Election Day.

Mme. De Laveleye added that the election was marred by a higher level of failure of the electronic voting system than ever before. There was also rampant vote buying, disturbing levels of state and military-orchestrated red-tagging, many incidents of deadly violence and diverse irregularities.

The IOM reported, the elections “did not meet the standard of free and fair election because of these prevailing conditions that robbed the voters of access to reliable information, access to the voting places without intimidation, and a credible vote counting system”.

In particular, they cited a local candidate in Metro Manila who said, “never in the history of the city has vote-buying been so rampant as in 2022 wherein one candidate was spending PhP5 to PhP7 million a day”. Journalists in Calabarzon told the delegation that the amount distributed has increased from PhP200 some years ago to PhP2,000 to PhP4,000 in this election.

Red-tagging was rampant everywhere, reported the IOM. Even Leni Robredo, Marcos’ main rival, and Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, a former police intelligence officer, were targets of the anti-communist harassment by Lorraine Badoy, spokesperson of the Duterte government’s National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

Armed military and police were heavily visible in one of the visited areas. Multiple tanks and helicopters were seen in some cities. This heavy military presence did not succeed in the Duterte government’s stated aim of ensuring a safe voting process.

The IOM also reported on election-related human rights violations, noting the first political killings related to the elections took place in Sorsogon, Bicol Region, on January 15. These violations took the form of political killings, shootings, abductions, death threats, political arrests, harassment and surveillance of candidates and supporters, very large-scale red tagging, widespread vote-buying, media manipulation and repression, fake news and harassment of journalists by the Marcos campaign.

IOM concluded, this election cannot be declared “free and fair” until all the illegal acts that have marred the process are dealt with. “Given that the Marcos-Duterte UniTeam praised the notorious policies of the current President Duterte, the international community needs to increase its focus on the human rights situation in the Philippines because it will only worsen from here.”

Part of this “intensified international focus,” according to the IOM, is holding the outgoing Duterte government officials “accountable for its abysmal human rights record.”

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines and local election watchdog Kontra Daya launched the International Observer Mission in February 2022.