Albayalde says vote-buying incidents in May 13 polls 'massive'

Philippine National Police chief Police General Oscar Albayalde on Monday said addressing incidents of "massive" vote-buying would be the biggest challenge for the PNP in the May 13 midterm elections.

During his morning briefing in Camp Crame, Albayalde said the PNP recorded 79 incidents of vote-buying involving 240 violators, of which 213 were arrested while 10 remain at-large.

"Nakikita natin is massive talaga yung vote-buying incidents, talagang kaliwa't kanan," he said.

"Meron kasing mga style din d'yan na after the voting dun nila kukunin yung kanilang pera. This is all still part of vote-buying."

Albayalde, however, said some reports of vote-buying turned out false. He said some supporters of candidates already tag the assembly of their rival campaigns as vote-buying.

"Yung ibang mga supporter may makita lang na gumugrupo sasabihin na nila as vote-buying. Kapag may sumakay sa jeep ire-report na nila as vote- buying. Makita yung supporters ng politician o lider ng politician ni-report na nila as vote buying. Although as I've said talagang massive yung reports of vote buying," he said.

Albayalde said a total of 165,505 police and military personnel have been deployed nationwide for the elections, with another 1,258 on standby in Camp Crame

He added 3,125 of the deployed personnel were also trained to act as election board members in case the teachers are unavailable to perform their duty.

Meanwhile, Albayalde said the PNP has recorded 43 incidents of election-related violence, a 60% reduction compared to the 106 incidents in the 2016 elections. —KBK, GMA News