Residents of the town of Pugo in La Union expressed concern over the sudden rise in the number of transfer voters in their town. The La Union Peace and Justice Advocates (LUPJA) supported the residents’ call for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to investigate the situation. “This is a common practice among politicians in the country, not only to manipulate the results but also to deprive the people of their right to choose and elect their officials,” the group said.

The Comelec officially opened voter registration for the 2025 election on February 12 and will end on September 30.

LUPJA said the events in Pugo is “just the tip of the iceberg.” It expects conflicts and rivalries to further intensify amid preparations by political dynasties and their supporters for the upcoming elections.

“We expect more election-related fraud and violence,” LUPJA said. During the 2022 election, Kontra Daya recorded more than 9,000 fraud reports of which they confirmed almost 3,000.

LUPJA called on the public to be vigilant against such forms of electoral fraud. “With issues like this surfacing, the need for a critical and community-driven poll watchdog has become more urgent,” they emphasized.

Kontra Daya is expected to lead the campaign to push for clean, peaceful and democratic elections in the coming 2025. The group believes that the reactionary elections in May 2025 will be more fraudulent, chaotic, and bloody amid the intensifying rivalry between the Marcos and Duterte camps.