mmalabanan
MANILA, Philippines. Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Rowena Guanzon has cleared Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo after photos of them showing their ballots went viral.
According to the Comelec official, she sees nothing wrong with the photos which spread like wildfire on social media since the ballots were not yet filled up.
“Nakita ko, pinakita ng pamangkin ko, wala namang shade. Hindi naman naka-shade ‘yung ballot. At hindi naman siya ang kumuha ng picture sa sarili niya. The voter is not allowed to use her gadget,” Guanzon said.
(I saw it, my nephew showed it to me, there’s no shade. The ballot wasn’t shaded and they didn’t take pictures of themselves.)
Guanzon even mentioned that presidential candidate Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago was photographed by the media holding her receipt before she folded it. Since Padilla’s and Bernardo’s photos were taken by the media, she believes that the celebrities did not violate the election laws prohibiting them from taking photos of their ballots.
“Iba kumuha sa kanya obviously, ‘di siya ang kumuha sa kanya,” Guanzon added.
(Someone else captured the photo obviously, they didn’t take a selfie.)
However, Guanzon said that she can’t determine whether there are consequences for the Kapamilya love team’s actions as they were not fully aware of the situation. She added that they still need to look at the circumstances to look for other facts.
On Monday, May 9, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez called for a dialogue with the popular love team after their photos circulated on social media.
