5 days ago
Comelec reports fewer vote-buying incidents on election day
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has received fewer reports of vote-buying and vote-selling for Eleksyon 2025.
According to the Comelec Commitee on Kontra Bigay (CKB), a total of 1,126 incidents of vote-buying and vote-selling were reported to the poll body for the May elections as of June 5 — fewer than the 1,200 reported during the 2022 national elections.
Of the figures, 677 were related to vote-buying and vote-selling, and 227 were linked to abuse of state resources (ASR). The regions with the highest number of complaints were Regions III, IV-A, NCR, V, and I.
Commissioner Ernesto Maceda Jr., chairperson of CKB, attributed the reduced illegal activities to the increasing public awareness, enforcement visibility, and a growing fear of consequences among the Eleksyon 2025 bets.
'Compared to previous elections, bumaba ang incidents, notwithstanding the number of reporting channels, notwithstanding the higher coverage. Nonetheless, hindi nahigitan ang previous local and national elections. We will take that as a win,' Maceda Jr. told reporters.
(Compared to previous elections, there were fewer incidents, notwithstanding the number of reporting channels, notwithstanding the higher coverage.)
'Mas maraming tao ang nagsusumbong ngayon. Mas alam natin ang karapatan natin. Mas maganda ang media coverage. Mas maraming tao ang maybe they realized mali pala ang ginagawa nila. So kahit ito ay isang systemic matter that is hard to eradicate, the people itself, have said no,' he added.
(More people are lodging complaints. We are now more aware of our rights and there is improved media coverage. Many candidates may have realized this is wrong and rejected it despite being a systemic matter.)
In February, the Comelec said it will impose stricter measures to curb vote-buying, vote-selling and prevent the ASR for the May elections as it relaunched the committee mandated to address vote-buying and vote-selling.
It also partnered with e-wallet applications such as GCash and Paymaya to address vote-buying via digital transactions.
ASR refers to the misuse of government resources, whether material, human, coercive, regulatory, budgetary, media-related, or legislative, for electoral advantage.
This usually includes the use of government facilities and vehicles for campaign-related activity but Maceda said the Comelec will also presume ASR is committed if the disbursement of aid or subsidies came with campaign materials or with candidates and their family.
Also constituted as ASR are the use of government-funded media platforms to promote a candidate, the unjustified revocation or selective granting of government assistance during the campaign period and the sudden surge in hiring of job orders or contract-based orders when engaged in partisan electoral activities. —Sundy Mae Locus/LDF, GMA Integrated News
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