BONGBONG MARCOS BLASTS ADMIN ATTEMPT AT 'TRENDING', WARNS OF POSSIBLE CHEATING IN THE POLLS

Vice Presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos, Jr. today warned voters against falling for the obvious trending ploy of the Administration by using rigged survey results that show their candidates catching up or overtaking erstwhile leaders.

Marcos noted that in the latest surveys he lost an unbelievable 6 to 11 percentage points. With around 55 million registered voters, Marcos said this translates to up to around 6 million votes that he inexplicably lost last week.

"This is clearly an attempt to trend; niloloko na nila ang tao sa pamamagitan ng survey na hindi kapani-paniwala yung kanilang mga numero," Marcos told reporters during the weekly media forum "Kapihan sa Senado."

"Nothing has happened that could explain it. It would take a very large and important event for the change in trend in those numbers. Something big has to have happened---I don't remember anything big in the past two weeks," he added.

Marcos warned that this scheme of the Administration could be a ruse to cover up possible massive cheating in the coming May elections.

"Ang problema baka ito ang unang hakbang sa pandaraya. Dahil kaunti lang ang pwedeng dayain na boto kaya pagka masyadong malayo ang natatalong kandidato, ang ginagawa nila ay inilalapit sa survey para pagka nadaya na nila ay sasabihin malapit naman kaya likely na mahabol yan," Marcos said.

Marcos pointed out, for example, that the percentage points he lost were apparently added to the undecided respondents. However, he said the survey results do not agree with his camp's internal survey and those from other political camps as well.

"How can that be possible? If you look at any election anywhere in the world, tingnan nyo ang undecided pabawas ng pabawas yan habang lumalapit ang halalan. It leaves us to believe that this is a clear attempt at trending to try to influence the votes on Monday," Marcos deplored.

Marcos alleged that the circumstances point to the Administration as the party behind this attempt.

"Who will be the biggest beneficiary of this trending, of this obviously concocted numbers that they have in the surveys? The Administration is the only one who can do that. Nobody but the Administration candidates are going up, everybody else is going down," Marcos cited.

Marcos said his camp is working very hard to look at what is happening while educating the voters on what they could do to protect their votes.

Marcos however assured that he is confident the Filipino voters are smart enough to see the trending attempt.

What is even more alarming, according to Marcos, is when these circumstances are taken together with the reported discrepancies in the ballots cast in the Overseas Absentee Voting as against the the printed receipts in places such as Hong Kong, Dubai, Kuwait, Japan, Okinawa, and California.

"The other problem is ang natatanggalan lang ng boto (sa OAV) ay sa Oposisyon, hindi sa Administrasyon! So far the only recorded votes that have been removed or lost are for me and Cong. (Martin) Romualdez, and the latest one kasama na si (Davao Mayor Rodrigo) Duterte," Marcos reported.

Marcos had earlier filed before the Commission on Election complaints on the results of the OAV based on the testimonies of voters who experienced discrepancies on their votes and the receipts.

He then appealed to all voters to take active measures to protect their votes. "Kaya lagi naming sinasabi sa lahat kung meron kayong makitang problema tungkol dyan, isumbong ninyo hindi lang sa isang tao, hindi lang sa BEI (Board of Election Inspectors), sa Comelec, isumbong nyo sa mga watchers, isumbong nyo sa amin," Marcos said.

Marcos likewise urged all political parties to join in the efforts to protect the sanctity of the ballot, consistent with his call for national unity.