Editor’s Note: This fact check was originally published on election day, May 12, 2025. The Comelec proclaimed the following Davao del Norte candidates as winners on May 13: Oyo Uy as First District Representative, Edwin Jubahib as governor and Rey Uy as Tagum City mayor.
On the day of the midterm polls, a post on Facebook (FB) claimed to show an alleged outcome of the May 12 elections in Davao del Norte before the transmission of votes even started. This is fake.
An FB page published the spurious post at 2:38 p.m. with the caption:
“AS OF 2:00 PM MAY 12, 2025 MIDTERM ELECTION. VOTE WISELY, MGA KA-DAVNOR FACTS (fans of Davao del Norte Facts)!”
The post carried a graphic showing candidates Aldu Dujali and Oyo Uy leading the race for governor and first district representative, as well as Rey Uy who is shown in first place for the Tagum City mayoral seat.
As of 2 p.m. on election day, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) had not released election results.
“At 7 p.m. – or at 8:30 at the latest – we will see how many of the 44,000 polling precincts all over the Philippines will be able to transmit the votes,” Comelec chair George Garcia said in Filipino during a press briefing on election day.
Garcia added that the automated counting machines may only start transmitting votes at exactly 7 p.m. and no earlier than that.
FB page DAVNOR FACTS (created on April 16, 2024) published the fake graphic, garnering over 1,200 reactions, 70 comments and 1,200 shares.
