More arrests made for vote-buying in 2025 polls, says Marbil

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rommel Marbil talks to reporters during the PNP Day celebration at Camp Crame, Quezon City in this file photo taken on Jan. 30, 2025. INQUIRER.net file photo / Jason Sigales

MANILA, Philippines — There were more arrests for vote-buying during the 2025 national and local elections compared to previous polls.

This was according to Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Gen. Rommel Marbil in an interview with reporters at Camp Crame on Friday.

“Is there more vote-buying now? No. We only caught more now,” he said in a mix of Filipino and English.

“That’s guidance coming from me: to arrest them. It doesn’t mean there is a difference between 2023 and 2025,” Marbil explained.

However, Marbil did not immediately provide the numbers to support his statement.

Police validated at least 100 ERIs as of last Monday, data from the PNP Public Information Office (PIO) showed.

This is significantly higher than the 27 ERIs validated during the May 2022 elections.

It is also close to the 105 ERIs validated during the October 2023 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

When asked to explain the ERIs during the 2025 polls, Marbil answered in Filipino, “We included other incidents and vote-buying in those reports, that’s why there’s more.”

READ: PNP to replace investigators of blank-walled ERIs

As to the status of the cases, the latest PNP PIO data showed 55 of the 100 validated ERIs were still under investigation as of May 19. /jpv