Authorities arrested a couple caught buying votes in Naic, Cavite, police said Monday.
According to Naic police chief Lt. Col. Resty Soriano, a concerned citizen called about the bribery of a live-in partner in Barangay Halang.
The anti-vote buying task group immediately went to it, and eventually, the 2 handed out sample ballots with P500 attached.
Fifty white envelopes containing only P500, sample ballots, a list of cluster leaders, and other election and campaign paraphernalia were confiscated from the suspects.
Police are already in contact with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) regarding the issue.
The lawyer of the candidate involved denied the accusation.
Meanwhile, in Laguna, the local Comelec said that many also reported the incident of vote buying, but no one has been arrested yet.
The Comelec is investigating the report of vote buying in Quezon province.
Some voters allegedly received a brown envelope with only P2,000 with a list of candidates.
According to Comelec Commissioner George Garcia, it has been monitored by their provincial election supervisor and has also been reported to the operations center.
He also said that the Philippine National Police had been instructed to rule on the rules behind vote buying.
House and Senate preparing to count votes for president, VP
The House and Senate have begun opening the means for them to receive the votes for president and vice president in this 2022 election.
The laptop, printer, and other devices and the passcode were opened to access the Commission on Elections (Comelec) server itself, which will send votes for counting.
The two sealed boxes were opened simultaneously by Senate Secretary Myra Villarica and House Secretary-General Mark Llandro Mendoza.
Later it is expected that the initialization or the same connection of the two houses of Congress to the Comelec server count the election results in the provinces.
On May 23, the Senate and the House are scheduled to hold a joint congressional session to become the National Board of Canvassers – Congress formally.
The winner of their number will also be declared the winning 17th president and vice president of the country.
More than 65 million Filipinos are registered for the May 9 elections. Voting begins at 6 a.m. and will end at 7 p.m.
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