Comelec: Don't believe P100M offer for 'election win'  

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has received reports of individuals offering election candidates a "win" in the 2025 national and local elections in exchange for cash up to P100 million, poll body chairperson George Garcia said Wednesday.

“Sa kasalukuyan marami po tayong nababalitaan at tumatawag sa atin na nagsisi-ikot pa rin sa buong bansa na nag o-offer at nanloloko sa ating mga kababayan, sa mga kandidato, o prospective na kandidato,” he said in an ambush interview.

(We have received reports that there are individuals who are going around the country and fooling the public, candidates, or prospective candidates.) 

He said these individuals are asking for P50 million, P70 million, or P100 million for a "win" in the upcoming polls as they supposedly know someone from Comelec.

Garcia, however, emphasized that such an offer is a "scam."

“Sana po ipa-aresto niyo ang lahat ng yan. Sana po wag natin papayag na lokohin tayo ng mga yan o linlangin. Hindi po totoo yan,” he said.

(I hope the public will help us report and arrest them. I hope you will not allow yourselves to be fooled. That is not true.)

He also assured the public that there are measures in place to prevent rigging election results. 

“Alam niyo po yung bago nating makina ay may pamamaraan para countercheck kung yan ay magkakaroon ng pagbabago ang result. Talagang sinigurado natin ang absolute transparency, yung proseso,” Garcia said.

(You know, the new machines we procured have a countercheck if there will be a change in the results. We ensured absolute transparency of the process.)

In March, Comelec and Miru signed the P17.99 billion contract for the procurement of a new automated election system for the 2025 elections.

The contract covered around 110,000 machines and peripherals including ballot boxes, laptops, and other printing requirements for the polls. Garcia said that the poll body is expecting the initial batch of around 20,000 units to arrive in August.

Deepfakes

Meanwhile, Garcia said he would also convince the Comelec en banc not to allow the use of artificial intelligence or deepfakes during the campaign.

“Kukumbinsihin ko po ang ating Commission en banc na ipagbawal namin sa campaign ang pag gamit ng deepfakes at saka po AI,” Garcia said. 

(We will convince the Commission En Banc not to allow the use of deepfakes and AI during the campaign.) 

“Sapagkat marami pong nalilito, maraming misrepresentation, marami pong hindi makatotohanan na nangyayari kapag ginagamit po yan,” he added.

(Because many will be confused, there’s a lot of misrepresentation, and there are a lot of untruths once these are used.)  —VAL/KBK, GMA Integrated News