Commission on Elections chairman George Erwin Garcia said steps have been taken to prevent vote buying through electronic payment services during the May 12 polls.
Garcia, who was in Bacolod City on Thursday, May 1, said the Comelec has agreements with GCash, PayMaya, and others electronic platforms who have committed to police money transactions to prevent vote buying at the polls near
If one person sends money to more than 20 people in a day amounting to more than P5,000 it will be presumed that it is vote buying, Garcia said.
But they have not received complaints of electronic vote buying yet, he said.
Garcia also said if a person is caught with sample ballots with indelible ink, or carrying cash amounting to P500,000 it will also be presumed to be intended for vote buying.
Garcia said so far the Comelec is investigating 242 vote buying cases and has issued show cause orders.
Both the vote buyer and seller are liable under the law, he said.
He said what is worse is when candidates use state resources to buy votes.
Garcia urged the public to report vote buying cases so the Comelec can act on them.*