Youth rally, decry election fraud in Vancouver

Youth rally, decry election fraud in Vancouver

Rally by Sulong UBC and Anakbayan BC at Jack Poole Plaza, Vancouver, BC on May 9, 2022

VANCOUVER– Youth organizers from Sulong UBC, Anakbayan BC, GABRIELA BC, Migrante BC, and Canada Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights organized a rally at Jack Poole Plaza to uphold fair and honest elections in the Philippines and decry the numerous accounts of voter fraud and election tampering.There were cultural performances and statements by the organizers; attendees shared their reactions on the results of the election and the dirty way in which the elections have been unfolding. Below is the statement of Sulong UBC and Anakbayan BC.

Many woke up today to news of electoral fraud, voter disenfranchisement, and election-related violence along with news that the Marcos-Duterte tandem leads the race. With numerous reports of vote-buying, intimidation, defective vote-counting machines, and late ballots for overseas voters, it is clear that the COMELEC has failed to uphold fair and honest elections.

As Anakbayan chairperson Jeann Miranda recently stated, “We have to remember that every COMELEC Commissioner is now a Duterte appointee and the contractor for vote counting machines and ballots is a company headed by a Duterte crony.
Both Marcos and Duterte command billions of pesos stolen from public coffers that allow them to buy votes and mobilize local officials in their favor.” The Marcos-Duterte tandem represents a continuation of the Duterte regime’s corruption, greed, and anti-people policies that fill the pocket of the ruling elite at the expense of the broad masses. We must question whether these problems are the result of accidental mismanagement by the COMELEC or by design. We have seen the Filipino people take to the streets in the hundreds of thousands rallying for the Leni-Kiko tandem in opposition to Marcos-Duterte, and we refuse to accept the results of such a dirty election. The ruling elite refuses to allow the people to engage in genuine democracy, and we must show them that we are willing to stand up for our rights and call out their attacks on democracy.

As youth and students, we know that it is our duty to remember the atrocious human rights abuses committed during Martial Law under Ferdinand Marcos. To forget that legacy and allow his son to take power unchallenged would be a disservice to the generations before us who rose up against tyranny no matter the cost. We understand that there has been a decades-long campaign of historical revisionism to portray the dictator Marcos years as the “golden years” and mislead the Filipino people, but we will continue to resist this campaign of misinformation and uphold the truth of that era. The EDSA People Power uprising that forced Ferdinand Marcos and his family to flee the Philippines will forever remind us that the Marcos dictatorship was horrific for the Filipino people and that the masses rose up because they could no longer stand it.

As Filipino youth and student activists in Canada, we resist because we see and feel the worsening conditions of the Filipino masses and understand that it is us who will inherit the future. We will live to see the crises created by regimes that steal from us and that allow foreign powers to do the same, and that is why it is so important for us to struggle against greed and corruption. However, the Marcos-Duterte tandem will be sure to continue the Duterte regime’s attacks on activists and human rights advocates if they win. We recognize the danger that this represents for our kababayan back home, and we urge those of us overseas to stand up for the people’s right to dissent. We must not allow the continuation of red-tagging, of extrajudicial killings, of human rights abuses, and we must call for a resumption of the peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

Regardless of the outcome of the elections, we will continue to fight for Philippine sovereignty and the democratic rights of the Filipino people. We understand that participating in democracy goes far beyond casting a ballot every few years and hoping that things change as a result. We must unite and fight against tyranny and for the genuine improvement of the lives of the Filipino people. We call on everyone who is not already part of an organization to join us. The fight is only just beginning!

(PRESS RELEASE)