I was then 25 or 26 when Cory Aquino, widow of assassinated Senator Ninoy Aquino, challenged then Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos to a snap election. It was believed that Marcos was losing popular support, thus, the perceived need for a snap election.

I enlisted as a LABAN team member. “Laban” or “fight” vowed to stop all means of cheating from any electoral party. So we were trained to spot electoral cheating at a glance and studied the omnibus election code. We conducted house...