PDP-Laban is formally challenging the results of the 2025 senatorial elections, seeking a manual recount of votes to address alleged irregularities in the poll results.
On Monday, the party’s legal counsel, Atty. Israelito Torreon, filed a Motion for Leave to File Supplemental Petition for Mandamus with the Supreme Court. He was joined by singer-lawyer Jimmy Bondoc, a PDP-Laban candidate who failed to secure a Senate seat in the midterm polls.
“What is essential is that the mandated process under our prevailing election laws be carried out, so that the truth may be known, accountability may be identified and exacted, and public confidence in the electoral process may be restored,” PDP-Laban emphasized in its petition.
The move follows Vice President Sara Duterte’s public statements alleging electoral fraud, claiming that three additional PDP candidates should have won. Speaking at a Filipino community event in Kuala Lumpur during Independence Day, Duterte cited information from IT experts who allegedly doubted the credibility of the election results. She encouraged her party to challenge the vote-counting process.
So far, the PDP-backed candidates who secured Senate seats are reelectionists Christopher “Bong” Go and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa. Congressman Rodante Marcoleta, who was endorsed by the party, also won.
In response to the petition, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia expressed openness to the legal challenge.
“Welcome po sa Comelec ang mga ganitong remedy to prove the real mandate of the electorate. We will just wait for the SC action on this matter,” he said in a message to reporters.
