Comelec vows crackdown on vote buying in BARMM elections

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has vowed to intensify efforts against vote buying and other election irregularities ahead of the 14 September elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia made the commitment during a walkthrough of the poll body's election server facility attended by representatives of political parties and members of the Bangsamoro Parliament.

"We will ensure that irregularities will be addressed and number one is vote buying. That is one of the problems we will anticipate," Garcia said.

The Comelec chief described vote buying as a persistent and chronic problem in Bangsamoro elections, saying the commission intends to demonstrate its resolve in addressing the issue.

"Therefore, we want to show our resolve since it is the only election as there are no elections in other parts of the country," he said.

Garcia acknowledged that completely eliminating election irregularities may be difficult but stressed that the commission aims to significantly reduce their occurrence, particularly vote buying activities.

He also thanked representatives from the Bangsamoro Parliament for participating in the inspection of the election server facility.

Garcia clarified that the walkthrough involved the election servers facility and not a secret server, emphasizing the importance of transparency in the electoral process.

According to him, the servers are ready to receive election returns and transmit results during the polls. A simulation exercise is scheduled on Saturday to test whether the systems are functioning as expected.

"So, at least the political parties asking questions understand the function of the servers," Garcia said.

He added that Comelec also plans to provide political parties access to view Data Center 1 (DC-1) and Data Center 2 (DC-2) to further demonstrate the security measures in place.

Garcia explained that DC-1 serves as Comelec's primary server and is protected by multiple layers of security.

"The main server should not be compromised because the results there are original and the others are secondary copies only," he said.

The BARMM parliamentary elections are scheduled for 14 September.