The Commission on Elections has begun filing petitions against the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections candidates allegedly involved in vote buying on 6 October.

Out of the 40 complaints being investigated, the Comelec poll board submitted five disqualification petitions, according to Comelec Deputy Executive for Operations Rafael Olano.

He added that the Committee on Vote Buying has received complaints from the public on various platforms, including Facebook and messages which contained screenshots or images.

"All of these complaints came from voters. We verified and evaluated them for possible filing of disqualification cases "he said.

Olano confirmed that one of the five candidates under investigation for disqualification is involved in a BSK bet showing up at a local government unit aid distribution, which he claimed to be qualified as vote buying.

"There were local government officials, mayors distributing relief but the BSKE candidate was present and was allowed to speak," he said.

After the official filing of candidacy, it was claimed that another BSK candidate distributed financial aid out of his pocket.

Prior to the election, the poll body warned candidates of its strict measures which prohibit the distribution of ballers, t-shirts, caps, and anything else of worth under the suspicion of vote buying and selling.

Comelec Commissioner Ernesto Ferdinand Maceda Jr. reminded LGU officials to be aware of such prohibitions during a separate briefing.

"If they conduct assistance programs, they should not let BSKE candidates join them, lest they be disqualified," he said.

Maceda added that the Comelec would consider potential reinforcing techniques if similar incidents persist as the campaign period drew closer.

"We will study how to reprimand them or take appropriate actions," he said.

In the end, Maceda stressed that the poll body is "dead serious" about its exclusion warning in order to assure not just the validity and honesty of the BSK polls but also to raise the bar for campaigning standards across the nation and the importance of each BSK candidate's character.

As of Friday, the Task Force Anti-Epal had filed an additional 10 disqualification petitions against candidates who were allegedly involved in premature campaigning while the Committee on Kontra Bigay had filed five disqualification cases for vote buying.

Overall, there are 82 petitions for premature campaigning, 5,169 show cause orders, and 1,132 responses from the BSK bets.