FALSE

Vote-counting machines (VCMs) are equipped with external batteries, contrary to claims that power interruptions make votes susceptible to fraud.

A post of Faebook page BBM Sara President on May 9 falsely suggested that brownouts pave way for election rigging.

Based on the 2019 midterm polls, COMELEC Spokesperson James Jimenez said in a report that the external batteries of the VCMs are good for 16 hours. “If you remember our voting time is 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. And that’s 12 hours. So again, we expect that there will be enough battery power on the entire day.”

Read the full story on FactRakers.

FactRakers is a Philippines-based fact-checking initiative of journalism majors at the University of the Philippines-Diliman working under the supervision of Associate Professor Yvonne T. Chua of the University of the Philippines’ Journalism Department. Associate Professor Ma. Diosa Labiste, also of the Journalism Department, serves as editorial consultant.

The name of the initiative, coined from the words “fact” and “raker,” is inspired by the term “muckrakers,” first used in the early 1900s by American president Theodore Roosevelt to express his annoyance at progressive, reform-minded journalists at the time.

factrakers.org