PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte did not benefit from the alleged "sabotage" of the 2016 national elections, Malacañang said on Thursday, March 8.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr., in a press conference, said the President might have even "lost votes."
Duterte won the presidential derby, after he took a wide lead over four other presidential candidates and earned total votes of 16,601,997.
"If you are to ask some of the die-hard supporters of the President in the last election, they feel that (Duterte) got more votes. So it is not as if (he) benefited," Roque told Palace reporters.
"(Duterte) lost votes, according to his supporters. But the President is happy with his almost six-million edge over his closest political rival," he added.
On Monday, March 5, Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III called for in investigation into allegations of his "concerned and impeccably" reliable source that the results of the 2016 national elections were "altered."
Sotto urged the Senate to investigate the alleged early transmission of votes and foreign access in election servers.
Sotto's claim also prompted the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to look into the allegations of fraud and foreign interference in the elections.
Roque said the executive department welcomes the poll body's initiative to probe the alleged irregularities.
"We are happy that the Comelec accepted the challenge to investigate the fresh information revealed by Senator Sotto," he said.
"We have to know the truth because after all, there might be other irregularities in the next elections. And the President said, while he is still the president, he will not allow any election fraud," the Palace official added. (SunStar Philippines)