Lanao del Norte 1st district Rep. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo (Dexter Barro II/MANILA BULLETIN)

Lanao del Norte 1st district Rep. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) should focus on stopping vote-buying instead of urging Congress to give the poll body additional powers for the 2025 midterm elections.

“If they really want to ensure honest, peaceful, and orderly elections next year, I would like to see them do something about vote-buying,” the lawmaker said in a press briefing on Wednesday, May 15.

Dimaporo issued this statement following a renewed call from Comelec Chairperson George Garcia for the House of Representatives and the Senate to establish a measure regulating the social media accounts of poll candidates.

Garcia stressed the need to regulate the candidates’ advertising placements on social media platforms--which include boostings of posts--to maintain a level playing field among themselves amid their varying degrees of campaign funding.

Last month, Garcia said such regulation can also be used to thwart the problem of troll farms and to mitigate the rising threat of artificial intelligence (AI).

“I believe that there’s no need to give Comelec any additional laws, they have what they need,” said Dimaporo.

Dimaporo, chairman of the House Committee on Muslim Affairs, stressed that if the Comelec cannot put an end to vote-buying there’s no need to give them additional powers.

“So, solve that problem first, then we can maybe give them more powers,” he emphasized.

For the 2022 national elections, Comelec said they acted on over 100 vote-buying and vote-selling concerns.

In a 2022 report by international elections watchdog Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), the conduct of vote-buying was seen as the “biggest flaw” of the country’s electoral process.

Unlike Dimaporo, fellow “Young Guns” member 1-RIDER Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez says he is open to Comelec’s suggestion of regulating candidates’ accounts in social media.

“If they’re seeking additional powers, I think we would support any measure, any drive by the Comelec, that would empower them in ensuring safe and fair elections,” Gutierrez said.

“We can have limitations on boosting ng (of) political pages ng ating mga kandidato (of our candidates). We can also have monitoring of the content that they will be providing,” he added.

Gutierrez said this proposed regulation can also be implemented under Comelec’s campaign spending rules.