MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has received 34 reports of alleged vote-buying and other illegal activities ahead of the May 12 midterm elections. The reports include 23 cases of vote-buying and vote-selling, and 11 reports of abuse of state resources, Comelec Commissioner Ernesto Maceda Jr. revealed during a briefing on Tuesday.
“We started getting reports even before the start of the election period,” Maceda said. He also noted that Metro Manila (NCR) is expected to have the highest number of reports for the 2025 elections, adding, “Most probably, for 2025, we will still see NCR as having the most reports (of vote-buying).”
Maceda, who heads the Comelec-Committee on Kontra Bigay, referenced the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), where more vote-buying incidents were recorded in Metro Manila. “I don’t know if that’s because there are more vote-buying incidents happening here or because the citizens are just more aware of their rights here,” he said.
Under the Omnibus Election Code, vote-buying involves offering or promising money or anything of value to induce someone to vote for or against a candidate.
In the 2022 national elections, the Comelec logged 1,226 complaints of vote-buying. In the 2023 BSKE, the number of complaints reached 375.