OCTA: 66% of Pinoy voters believe vote buying will be widespread

Majority of registered Filipino voters believe that vote buying will be widespread in the May 2025 elections, according to the results of latest OCTA Research Tugon ng Masa (TNM) survey released Thursday.

The OCTA Research poll, conducted from February 22 to 28, 2025 using face-to-face interviews, showed 66% of registered voters think vote buying will be prevalent in the midterm polls while 34% think otherwise.

Those who believe that vote buying will be widespread are almost at the same level in socioeconomic class D and E with 68% and 60%, respectively. Meanwhile, 54% in class ABC disagree.

Likewise, 63% registered voters in the country in age groups 18 to 24 and 67% in age groups 25 to 34 believe vote buying will be widespread in the May 2025 elections. These age groups comprise the bulk of the voting population in the country.

In addition, the percentage of registered voters who believe vote buying will be widespread in the May 2025 elections is higher in urban areas at 68% than in rural areas at 63%.

In terms of gender, more males (68%) share this view compared with females (64%).

Across educational levels, the highest percentage of those who believe that vote buying will be prevalent was highest among those with high school education at 70%, followed by those who had vocational education at 67%, those with college education at 60%, and those who have college and post-graduate degrees at 57%.

The same OCTA Research poll also showed that 68% of registered voters believe vote buying will negatively affect the outcome of the May 2025 elections, way higher than 32% who said otherwise.

Those who believe that vote buying will negatively impact the May 2025 poll results reached 73%, 72%, and 70% in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, and Mindanao, respectively.

The lowest percentage of those who do not believe vote buying will negatively affect the results of the 2025 May elections was posted in the Visayas at 54%.

The OCTA Research poll had 1,200 male and female respondents aged 18 years old and above.

Its margin of error is at ±3% at a 95% confidence level. Subnational estimates for the geographic areas covered in the survey have the following margins of error at a 95% confidence level: ±6% for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec), for its part, renewed its call for the public to report vote-buying and vote-selling incidents.

“Humihingi kami ng tulong sa mga kababayan naitn. Hindi sapat na nakatingin lang tayo kahit di tayo tumatanggap. Mas maganda kung magrereport tayo [at] aaksyon kami,” said Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia.

(We ask the help of the people. It is not enough that we don't sell our votes. It would be better if you would report such incidents so we can take action.)

Garcia said the incidents should be reported in order for the poll body to address and take appropriate actions.

"Kinakailangan may nare-report sa'min para may pagbabasehan ang kilos ng Comelec (It should be reporter to us so we will have a basis for our actions)," he added.

According to Garcia, the poll body will not hesitate to disqualify and file cases against candidates who will be found guilty of the illegal act.

"Ang importante dito maniwala ang sambayanan sa proseso at sistema na pinapatupad natin. At the same time maniwala sila na hinding-hindi mangyayari ang ganiyang klaseng iregularidad kung di sila mananahimik," he said.

(What's important here is that the people believe in the process and that system we are implementing. At the same time, they believe that these irregularities will never happen if they will report it.)

On Tuesday, the Comelec said it has received 34 reports of vote buying, vote selling and abuse of state resources (ASR) for Eleksyon 2025 so far.

Of the figures, 23 incidents were related to vote buying and vote selling and 11 were related to ASR.—AOL, GMA Integrated News

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