The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is in the final stages of preparation for the 2025 midterm elections, with chairman George Erwin Garcia announcing that the poll body is “more or less 90 to 95 percent ready” for the 12 May midterm elections.

In a radio interview on Sunday, Garcia assured the public that Comelec remains on track to ensure orderly and credible elections. “But we still have a lot to take care of, kinks that we have to fix,” he said in Filipino.

He urged candidates to properly coordinate campaign activities, particularly motorcades, to avoid traffic congestion, such as those he noted last Friday at the start of campaigning for local posts.

Garcia warned against vote buying, saying both buyers and sellers would be prosecuted to face up to six years in prison.

He added that they are intensifying security in red-category areas where poll-elected violence may erupt like in Maguindanao. Police checkpoints in such areas are being heightened, Garcia said.

Meanwhile, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has directed financial institutions and payment platforms to prevent their systems from being used for digital vote buying.

An election officer and her spouse had been targeted for assassination in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.

“No matter the declaration of others (as to the motive behind attacks), we presume them to be election-related, more so when those killed or hurt are local Comelec officials,” he said.

Despite the incidents, election-related violence remained lower than previous cycles, with only 27 cases recorded since October 2024 — fewer than in 2019 and 2022.