Comelec debunks dagdag-bawas allegations in 2025 polls

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has debunked allegations of "dagdag-bawas" or vote padding and shaving in the unofficial election results for the 2025 senatorial race.

Comelec chairman George Garcia explained that some media outfits released election results without properly cleansing the raw data from the Comelec data server.

Garcia clarified that only two media outfits possess the necessary program to process and "cleanse" the raw election results before publication.

He made this statement after unofficial senatorial race results went viral, showing an alleged discrepancy and vote decline for a candidate.

Garcia emphasized that Comelec does not engage in summarizing or ranking candidates in unofficial tallies, as only official results are within their purview.

The poll body stated that unofficial results, often appearing with rankings, do not originate from Comelec but from groups like NAMFREL, PPCRV, and media entities that need to process the data.