Nothing illegal with alleged phone sales hike after polls but Comelec wants NTC, AFP, PNP to look into it

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday said it asked the  National Telecommunications Commission, Philippine National Police, and Armed Forces of the Philippines to look into the alleged rise of mobile phone sales in certain areas.

“We have already made a report to security partners, including the AFP [and] PNP. Makikipag-ugnayan po kami sa NTC," Comelec acting spokesperson Rex Laudiangco said at a press briefing.

"The escalation of purchases ng cellphones and other devices, hindi naman siya illegal at wala kaagad talagang automatically na sasabihin natin na mayroong anomalies or suspicious activities but then again everything will be looked at and we will be coordinating with the NTC and our security partners,” he added.

Laudiangco earlier said the NTC would give them feedback in case they detect any anomaly.

The PNP earlier reported at least 20 incidents of vote-buying have been reported in the country so far amid the 2022 polls.

Meanwhile, the Comelec spokesperson said the Department of Information and Communication (DICT) will continue with their investigation on more than 20,000 attempted attacks on the Comelec’s website during this year’s elections.

He earlier said the DICT is continuously monitoring the attempted attacks, adding that they were able to identify some IPs who were doing the attacks.

 “The DICT [is] continuing their investigation sabi naman po nila sa amin magsusubmit sila ng report pag naverify na but we have to understand medyo extensive po 'yung gagawin nilang  investigation, 20,000 plus po itong beberipikahin nila,” he said.—AOL, GMA News