Today, 30 years ago, the nation waited in nervous anticipation for the results of the presidential snap election. All looked towards Batasang Pambansa Session Hall in its session where the announcements of the results would be heard. Based on Marcos’ track record. however, many have already assumed that cheating will occur. But no one knew that it would be an “electoral fraud on a massive scale never before seen in the country’s political history.” A few days ago, on February 6, the glass window of the car of spokesman and sister-in-law of Cory Aquino, Lupita Kashiwahara, was broken by an unidentified Philippine Constabulary soldier with the butt of an armalite as caught on camera by the Philippine Daily Inquirer. This was followed by an increase of election-related violence. Newspaper Ang Pahayagang Malaya accounted for 103 people killed. As of February 8:

The violence ranged over the whole of the Philippines with the greatest number of dead registered in Tarlac, home province of the assassinated hero-by-popular-acclaim Benigno Aquino Jr… The next hot spot in terms of recorded dead is Misamis Oriental where 12 people were killed…

By February 9, thirty-five employees and computer operators of the COMELEC Tabulation Center (now known as the COMELEC 35) walked out of the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in protest of the anomalies in the results. 

The COMELEC 35 walking out with linked hands. Photo courtesy of the Presidential Museum and Library.

They released a statement that said:

We are computer technicians who were hired for the 1986 Comelec National Tabulation Project. We walked out of the project on February 9, 1986 for a basic professional reason: we did not want ourselves to be used in any way that violates fundamental professional ethics.

We were made to believe from the start that the job was going to be a professional one. The honor, responsibility and challenge that we saw in the project were enough to vindicate the hard work and long nights spent developing the computerized system before it was to start operating on February 7, 1986.

We emphasize that it was a spontaneous act of protest; we have no leader, we are not syndicated, nor do we wish to be linked to any partisan motives. None of us has any political affiliation. We are just independent-minded persons whose only desire is to preserve the purity of our profession.

When the discrepancy between the computer tabulation reports and the figures on the tally board was detected, the immediate reaction was one of indignation and utter frustration. It hurt us to see a deliberate betrayal of trust. It did not matter who was winning or losing; cheating whether by 1 or 100,000 is still cheating. It was an insult to our most basic sensibilities, both moral and professional. And we did not want to have anything to do with it.

The walkout was an escape from an intolerable situation. We just wanted to leave the place and go to some place where we can “drink our blues away”! But as we left the Plenary Hall, we were mobbed by people whom we didn’t know, and we didn’t have a choice but let ourselves be led to Baclaran Church in the confusion that followed. Shocked and scared, we were helpless.

To think that all we wanted to do was be true to ourselves and to the job that we do best, under threat of losing what was otherwise a respectable job at the National Computer Center.

The COMELEC 35 went to Baclaran Church for refuge knowing that their lives were in danger. While the nation waited for the results, COMELEC and NAMFREL continued showing electoral results that did not align. Meanwhile election-related killings continued aside from the assassination of Evelio Javier. Among those recorded to have been killed: a farmer volunteer of NAMFREL in Capiz, a hairdresser who strutted the “L” sign for Laban in an indignation rally in Makati. Philippine Constabulary forces were also involved in a shootout with people near precincts as a form of intimidation. International media and foreign delegates who observed the election canvassing saw for themselves the blatant electoral fraud and the terrorizing of the people guarding the ballots.

With all these events, the momentous day has finally arrived.

Photo of an unidentified man in San Juan, Metro Manila, cockily aiming his handgun at an UNIDO supporter (Cory Aquino and Doy Laurel’s political party). The gunman was later identified by witnesses as belonging to a group earlier accosted by UNIDO volunteers for bringing in flying voters to the San Juan Elementary School. The photo was featured by the mosquito press paper, Ang Pahayagang Malaya, in their February 8, 1986 issue. From the collection of Jose Custodio.

The Batasan Pambansa met on this day, February 15, 1986, in a session to announce the winner of the presidential elections. Thousands assembled outside the Batasang Pambansa complex in protest, knowing that the rigged election would declare Marcos the winner. The international media, including the International Observer Delegation, composed for 44 delegates from 19 different countries (with some U.S. senators), watch as the events unfolded in the Session Hall. 

Finally, the announcement was made by virtue of Resolution No. 38:

Resolved by the Batasang Pambansa, By virtue of the result of the canvass of election returns of the election held on February 7, 1986, to proclaim, as it hereby proclaims, FERDINAND E. MARCOS as the duly elected President of the Philippines, and ARTURO M. TOLENTINO as the duly elected Vice-President of the Philippines.

The announcement was met with public outrage.

Photo from a newspaper, courtesy of Jun Brioso.

Amidst applause, the opposition assemblymen immediately walked out of the Batasang Pambansa in protest. Meanwhile on the side, a group of around 30 Claretians and Evangelical ladies, who earlier formed their group, known as Konsensya ng Febrero Siete (KONFES), were inside the Session Hall when the announcement was made. Due to their formal dresses and under the cover of Claret matrons, the ladies were admitted into the Session Hall as they hid their placards. As soon as the announcements were made, they immediately raised their placards that said “The Lord hates liars!” based on a passage in the Book of Proverbs. The foreign press went ballistic as pictures were taken and as commotion ran in the Hall. The KONFES members were immediately dispersed.

Anger. Betrayal. Disgust.

These were the emotions felt by the people after hearing the news of the announcement. The International Observer Delegation then began to draft their report, scathingly condemning the blatant electoral fraud they witnessed with their own eyes. The next day, this betrayal would gather an unprecedented two million strong in Luneta, in a protest now known as the Tagumpay ng Bayan Rally.

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution of February 1986, a peaceful revolution that ended an oppressive dictatorship in the Philippines, to the shock of the entire world. 

Video above:

Video footage of the Session Hall of the Batasang Pambansa on February 15, 1986, as Marcos was announced the winner of the presidential Snap Election of 1986. Notice that the hall had many vacant seats, and shouts of protest can be heard in the video.