AT LEAST five people were killed and rampant vote buying were reported amid the conduct of the midterm elections in the Catholic-majority Philippines on Monday, May 12, 2025.
As the casting of ballots opened Monday morning, three men fired upon a group of volunteer watchdogs for a reelectionist mayoral candidate in the village of Mambulac, Silay City, Negros Occidental, killing two people and injuring seven others.
“These citizens, driven only by a desire to protect the integrity of our elections, were performing a patriotic duty…That they were met with violence is a grave injustice not only to them and their families, but to every decent and law-abiding Filipino,” said Silay Mayor Joedith Gallego in a statement, as he condemned the incident.
In Basilan province, Mindanao, a pre-dawn attack by still unidentified gunmen resulted in the deaths of three people, including a poll watcher, and the wounding of two other supporters.
In Carcar City, Cebu province, police nabbed three people for alleged vote buying.
Voters at a polling station in the village of Sagap, Bangued, Abra province also scrambled for their safety as successive gunfire burst in the vicinity amid the voting activities.
As they investigated the incident, the Abra Provincial Police said casting of votes has continued in the area.
In various parts of the archipelago, netizens also shared various social media posts showing election-related violence and fraud.
“Based on the verified reports we have gathered so far, there are various issues with Automated Counting Machines (ACMs) that resulted in inaccurate counting and disenfranchisement,” Professor Danilo Arao, convenor of voting watchdog Kontra Daya, told Sunstar Philippines on Monday.
“There are also cases of vote-buying and disinformation, especially red-tagging and false claims of disqualification of certain candidates and party-list groups. Overall, these tend to debunk the Commission on Election’s claims of peaceful, orderly polls,” Arao added.
As of 2:30 p.m., Monday, advocacy group Vote Report PH continued to receive “a growing volume of verified incident reports related to various forms of electoral irregularities, totaling to 566.”
The reports include ACM Errors becoming the most frequently reported issue, comprising 54 percent of all verified reports (305 incidents).
Commonly cited problems include machine malfunctions resulting in hour-long delays, ink smudging during ballot feeding, and high scanner sensitivity leading to unintended overvotes.
Illegal campaigning accounts for 44 incidents (8 percent), showing a notable increase in violations, while disenfranchisement stood as the third most reported category, with 41 incidents (7 percent), including issues such as voter's name not present in the voter's list, as well as other procedural barriers.
Red-tagging has resulted in 35 incident reports (6 percent), while BEI (Board of Election Inspectors) Non-Compliance follows closely with 34 reported cases (6 percent), according to Vote Report PH.
The group also urged the public “to remain vigilant and continue reporting incidents of electoral fraud or irregularities through social media.”
The Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente), which is part of Asian Network for Free Elections (Anfrel), called on the Comelec and security forces “to ensure that observers are granted full access, technical issues with machines are addressed promptly and prohibited acts within voting centers are prevented.”
Pre-election media attack, proliferation of fake news
Jose Torres Jr., executive director of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, expressed "serious concern" over the harassment of media personnel during this year's midterm elections.
In a report from Catholic news UCA News, the task force documented the attack on the vehicle of the former president of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club in Sagay, Camiguin, on May 10, and the threatening with a slingshot of a news crew from TV 48 and radio DWNE in Nueva Ecija, allegedly by a member of the Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team.
While in Quezon City, another radio reporter faced intimidation from a group of men while covering vote-buying allegations.
However, he said that the number of election-related harassment towards journalists in this year’s election is very low.
“We have three reports, as of now,” said Torres in a separate phone interview with Sunstar Philippines.
Torres said they do not tolerate attacks on media professionals who are performing their duties as responsible citizens during the elections.
In the Eastern Visayas region, police regional director Brigadier General Jay Cumigad said the elections in the region “was generally peaceful.”
All 3,818 polling centers in Eastern Visayas, covering six provinces, were reported to be 100 percent operational, ensuring that voters could cast their ballots without disruption.
The police regional command deployed a total of 10,860 personnel across Eastern Visayas, while establishing 51,693 checkpoints and border control operations since the start of the election period.
“The presence of our personnel is vital in maintaining peace and order. We are pleased to report that no major election-related incidents have been recorded. Our personnel remain on full alert to safeguard the integrity of this democratic process,” Cumigad said.
In his public statement, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. reminded the voters to “exercise our right and fulfill our responsibility as Filipino citizens,” saying the elections “is an opportunity for every voice to be heard and for our hopes—for ourselves and for our country—to be expressed.”
Earlier, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) also warned the public of fake social media posts where they purportedly made some endorsements of senatorial candidates ahead of the May 12 elections.
“Please exercise discernment when reading such social media posts. If names of candidates are mentioned in supposed Church endorsements, consider them false or misleading,” said Monsignor Bernardo Pantin, CBCP secretary general, in a statement on May 10.
About 70 million Filipino registered voters cast their ballots in about 439,500 polling stations across the country, where 18,000 national and local posts were up for grabs. (Ronald O. Reyes/SunStar Philippines)