‘OPERATION BAKLAS’ Two days earlier than the elections, enforcers of “Operation Baklas” take away posters of candidates round Aurora Quezon Elementary College in San Andres, Manila, on Saturday. | GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Police and election officers in Zamboanga Metropolis are intently watching gatherings of varied political teams for supposed ballot watchers’ orientation for Monday’s midterm elections to stop these from getting used as a canopy for vote-buying after two folks died in a single giant rowdy crowd.
Jan Christian Babiera, election officer of town’s second district, on Saturday mentioned he had ordered the police to continuously monitor such gatherings to stop Friday’s tragedy from taking place once more.
‘Severely overcrowded’
The Zamboanga Metropolis Medical Heart (ZCMC) mentioned two aged folks—an 80-year-old lady and a 65-year-old man—died after they misplaced consciousness amid the group. The girl was from Baliwasan village and the person was from San Jose Gusu.
A police report mentioned a ballot watchers’ orientation assembly held at Royce Conference Heart of the Grand Astoria Resort in Barangay Zone 2 grew to become “severely overcrowded.”
“Amid the dense gathering, two aged individuals reportedly skilled respiratory misery and collapsed,” it mentioned.
Emergency responders tried to revive one of many two on the scene whereas the opposite was rushed to ZCMC. Each had been declared useless on arrival on the hospital.
The hospital mentioned it handled greater than a dozen different folks introduced in from varied areas across the metropolis largely for dizziness, hypertension and lack of consciousness amid the dense crowds.
In keeping with Police Col. Fidel Fortaleza Jr., the performing metropolis police chief, there have been gatherings in eight areas across the metropolis, supposedly for the orientation of precinct watchers for a political get together, which he didn’t determine.
These included 4 lodges, public gyms and personal residential compounds.
Babiera mentioned that because the day wore on, authorities famous that the crowds had suspiciously swollen to numbers approach past what would have been wanted for watchers.
Solely 566 precincts
At a press convention, he defined {that a} political get together was entitled to 2 watchers per clustered precinct. Based mostly on the variety of precincts arrange by the Fee on Elections (Comelec), there ought to solely be a complete of 566 clustered precincts, 259 within the first district and 307 within the second district.
“Those that got here (to the gatherings) far exceeded the anticipated quantity if these had been actually for the orientation of watchers,” Babiera mentioned.
He mentioned he requested the police to verify these giant gatherings reported by involved residents. It was additionally suspicious that the gatherings lasted nicely into the night time, Babiera mentioned.
Folks on varied social media platforms reported that there have been smaller gatherings in different components of town, additionally allegedly disguised as payouts for watchers’ meals and transportation allowances for Monday’s balloting, however these haven’t all been monitored by authorities.
E-wallets be part of watch
On Saturday, Police Brig. Gen. Roel Rodolfo, Zamboanga Peninsula police director, known as on the general public to assist the police in monitoring and reporting these gatherings to construct a case in opposition to these accountable.
To assist thwart vote-buying, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) issued Memorandum No. M-2025-006, directing banks and nonbanks like cell wallets to undertake “enhanced surveillance and monitoring measures” of suspicious transactions throughout the election marketing campaign interval.
The transfer was according to the Comelec’s efforts to curb vote-buying utilizing digital monetary platforms like on-line banking and cell functions, resembling digital wallets (e-wallets).
These monetary entities had been instructed to tighten present controls in detecting or stopping the inflow of fraudulent accounts and transactions because the Election Day approached.
The BSP mentioned they need to submit stories on suspicious transaction to the Anti-Cash Laundering Council after due investigation of “advanced and unusually” giant transactions that had been “indicative” of vote-buying and vote-selling.
The memo mentioned monetary entities should make sure that they’d the suitable buyer onboarding processes, in addition to an efficient fraud administration system (FMS).
Uncommon money flows
Among the many potential situations that banks and nonbanks should take into account in beefing up their FMS is the focus of account registrations within the locality the place vote-buying is reported to be rampant.
The BSP mentioned an efficient FMS may monitor giant money transactions and encashment of checks throughout the election interval.
The system should additionally detect uncommon fund flows between accounts, digital banking and digital wallets, together with the rate and frequency of transactions, or giant quantities of cash being despatched to many-to-one or one-to-many accounts.
In March, e-wallet GCash started implementing non permanent transaction limits per day to stop vote-buying amongst its 90 million prospects.
Quantity-based
The Ayala-backed fintech platform mentioned in an advisory that its customers would obtain a notification ought to they attain the each day cap. GCash didn’t disclose the precise restrict, though it’s volume-based, which means customers could be flagged once they ship cash a sure variety of instances inside 24 hours.
As soon as the restrict is exceeded, they will be unable to make use of the “specific ship” and “ship through QR” options till the next day.
On the similar time, GCash mentioned it employed “superior fraud detection” and antimoney laundering instruments to watch and flag suspicious transactions.
A suspect account will probably be suspended and GCash will report it to the suitable authorities.
The each day transaction restrict will probably be in place till Might 12, Election Day, and lifted the next day.
“Because the election interval approaches, we’ll stay vigilant, leveraging superior detection measures to watch and flag suspicious transactions,” GCash chief danger officer Ingrid Beroña mentioned.
GCash declined to reveal whether or not it had already detected instances of vote-buying over the previous two months.
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