MANILA — A group of lawyers supporting the Malacañang bid of Vice President Leni Robredo launched on Friday a reporting scheme for voters who will witness possible election offenses on May 9, 2022.

Called the Project People's Patrol, the project will tap around 1,400 volunteer lawyers to take up reports on possible offenses, said Lawyers for Leni co-convenor Joan de la Cruz.

"Ang pagbabantay ng boto ay hindi lang trabaho ngayon ng mga abogado. Kailangan namin kayo, kailangan ng tulong ng mga abogado, para huwag masayang ang lahat ng pinaghirapan natin simula noong isang taon," she told reporters in an online launch.

(Guarding the votes is not a task solely for lawyers. We need you, lawyers need help so that all our efforts since last year will not go to waste.)

WHAT, HOW TO REPORT

The group urged voters to be on the lookout for the followin offenses.

• Illegal campaigning
• Vote-buying
• "Hakot" or crowd hauling
• Presence of armed individuals
• Intimidation or attempts to disenfranchise voters
• Instigating chaos to prevent orderly elections

These and other irregularities can be reported through the Leni App, to the Lawyers for Leni group on Facebook Messenger, or the hotlines of the local Robredo People's Council (RPC), the umbrella organization of volunteers backing the Vice President.

One does not to need to register to report offenses and even non-supporters of Robredo are welcome to join the effort, said Lawyers for Leni.

The group said those making the report should have witnessed the offense firsthand so that volunteers could avoid acting on incidents based on rumors or unvalidated stories online.

Voters who will witness irregularities are encouraged to include their name in the report, as well as photos or videos of the incident.

But if the incident happened inside a polling precinct, where taking photos or videos is prohibited, this should be reported to Robredo's official poll watchers, the group said.

Some 65 million registered voters are expected to troop to the polling precincts on Monday. Voting hours are extended, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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