A Facebook page claimed on May 20 that uniformed personnel from the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) unanimously voted for pro-Duterte senators in the May 12 elections. This needs context.
The post showed a list of the top senators in the local absentee voting (LAV) results in which a majority of voters were from the uniformed personnel. The user claimed:
“A Unanimous Vote From The Ranks.”
It said these votes reflected a “quiet protest” and an act of “outright defiance.”
Newly appointed PNP Chief Nicolas Torre III took to Facebook on May 22 to debunk the post, describing it as disinformation.
He wrote, “Sa hanay pa lamang ng PNP, may halos 230,000 na pulis. Ang bumoto sa Local Absentee Voting ay humigit-kumulang 10% lamang sa amin—malayo sa tinatawag na pagkakaisa ng buong hanay.
(In the ranks of the PNP alone, there are almost 230,000 police. Only about 10% of us participated in the Local Absentee Voting—far from what they call unity among the PNP.)”
Of the 150,000 active-duty personnel in the AFP, only 29,030 were approved for the LAV.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) approved 57,689 voters, including 4,206 government employees and 1,005 members of the media, who are on duty on election day, to cast their ballots for national candidates in various polling precincts assigned by the Comelec on April 28-30, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Of these, only 51,991 actually voted.
Facebook page InfoCebu has 198,000 followers. The spurious post has so far garnered 9,000 shares and over 4,000 reactions.
