Fears of widespread cheating remain as Filipinos cast their votes today, after authorities seized official ballots and indelible ink from the house of a candidate's aide south of Manila.
'Everyone is running scared [of being cheated],' said Senator Ralph Recto, who is running for re-election under the Team Unity slate of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Reports that candidates from both the administration and opposition would cheat each other seemed groundless until a Friday raid on the house of Julian Olivares in San Roque village, Laguna, yielded the first solid proof of potential fraud. Mr Olivares is an aide to San Pedro mayoral candidate Calixto Cataqui.
Police Chief Superintendent Nicasio Radovan said they seized 47 ballot papers, which could be swapped for official ballots after the vote, and two bottles of indelible ink, used for dabbing voters' fingernails after paying them not to vote.
The ink was in a bag marked 'Comelec', or Commission on Elections. When caught trying to hide the ink, Mr Olivares' son-in-law, Rolando Cuevas, said he thought it was medicine.
