Kontra Daya and other groups protested anew at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in Intramuros, Manila on March 27. They timed the protest one day before the start of campaigning for local officials for the 2025 election.

The group’s protest called for a clean campaign and 2025 election. Kontra Daya expects more cases of vote buying, election-related violence, and other violations in the coming weeks.

The group also highlighted their call for a hybrid election system and other measures for the May election. Kontra Daya asserts this to avoid fraud in machine voting.

According to the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (Cenpeg), a group that also joined the protest, the hybrid system will ensure the fundamental principles of democracy of private voting and open counting.

“The current automated election system removed the public’s direct participation in the counting and canvassing of votes, weakening electoral transparency and accountability,” leading Cenpeg academic Prof. Bobby Tuazon said.

The Philippine experience has shown that automated elections controlled by private technology providers has increased vulnerabilities to fraud and technical errors. According to the group, to avoid these, Comelec needs to prioritize a hybrid system.

Bayan Muna Party-list also participated in the protest at Comelec. The party, and its allies under the Makabayan Coalition, are common victims of the state forces’ Red-tagging and dirty propaganda to disenfranchise them of votes.

On March 10, Bayan Muna filed a complaint against “widespread and pervasive black propaganda” against their party. This was followed by the filing of similar complaints by regional chapters of Makabayan and member parties in different parts of the country.