MANILA, Philippines — Authorities have arrested 28 individuals after the Department of the Interior and Local Government recorded over 200 vote buying incidents from January 1 to May 9.
“Dito naman po sa report ng vote buying mula po January 1 hanggang May 9, 2022, nakapagtala tayo ng 245 reported vote buying incident at mayroong 41 suspect,” Interior Secretary Eduardo Año told President Duterte in a taped address to the nation aired Thursday morning.
(In our report about vote buying from January 1 to May 9, 2022, we listed 245 reported vote buying incidents and we have 41 suspects.)
“Patuloy pa rin tayong naghahanap ng mga ebidensya sa iba pang mga vote buying incident. Sa ngayon po ay 28 ang ating naaresto at 13 pa ang kasalukuyang pinaghahanap,” said Año.
(We are still looking for evidence of other vote buying incidents. Currently, we have arrested 28 suspects and we are looking for 13 others.)
Out of the 245 reported incidents, 25 have already been validated, two are still under investigation, four were referred to the prosecution office, and one case has been filed in court.
According to Año, they will still look for evidence involving other incidents.
“Mare-report po natin, Mr. President, na sa mga permit to campaign na inilabas ng NPA ay wala tayong na-monitor na mga politician na pumatol dito, nagbigay ng pera o resources sa CPP-NPA,” Año said.
(Mr. President, regarding the permit to campaign issued by the NPA, we have not monitored any politician who negotiated, gave money or resources to the CPP-NPA.)
The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police said that the conduct of the May 9 elections was “generally peaceful.”