SIX out of 10 Filipinos did not experience or personally know about vote-buying in the 2025 elections, a survey conducted by OCTA Research showed.

In its Tugon ng Masa survey conducted from July 12-17, 62 percent of respondents said they neither experienced or personally knew of vote-buying in the May 2025 midterm elections. On the other hand, most of the 38 percent that said they experienced it believed vote-buying affected the outcome of the elections.

By regional breakdown, only the Cordillera, Negros Island and all regions in Mindanao had majority of its respondents saying that they experienced vote-buying. In other regions, most respondents said they did not encounter vote-buying.

Some 49 percent of socioeconomic class ABC said they also had no exposure to vote-buying, while those ages 75 and above were also the highest among those who said that they had not experienced it.

Majority of Filipinos unaware of vote buying in 2025 elections, OCTA survey shows

OCTA said the results indicate that while the overall majority of Filipinos did not perceive vote-buying as affecting them, the practice is “unevenly distributed across regions, socioeconomic classes and age groups.”

“The contrast between the broad national perception and the localized experiences of specific communities underscores that vote-buying continues to shape the electoral landscape in ways that are not uniform across the population,” OCTA said.

Addressing these disparities, OCTA added, will require the Commission on Elections (Comelec), government institutions and the civil society to strengthen monitoring, enforcement and voter education, particularly in areas and sectors where vote-buying remains more visible and persistent.

Of those who said they experienced vote-buying, 71 percent said that it influenced the outcome of the May 2025 elections.

The figure was higher in the National Capital Region, where 88 percent of those who experienced vote-buying believed it affected the poll outcome. The figure was 81 percent in Balance Luzon.

Broken by region, respondents in the Cordillera, Bangsamoro, Ilocos and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) regions were among the highest in saying that vote-buying could have shaped electoral results, with above 90- to 100-percent agreement.

“The strong consensus in regions such as [Cordillera], [Bangsamoro] and Calabarzon highlights areas where transactional politics are deeply tied to perceptions of electoral legitimacy,” OCTA said.

OCTA said the results reveal a “broader challenge for Philippine democracy,” as the persistence of vote-buying, even when not visible, undermines public trust in elections and reinforces perceptions of an uneven playing field in certain regions and sectors.

“The uneven distribution of both exposure and perceptions points to vulnerabilities that weaken the credibility of electoral outcomes and erode confidence in democratic processes,” it added., This news data comes from:http://gyglfs.com

OCTA proposed key reform priorities for the Comelec and other organizations, including strengthened monitoring and enforcement, tougher legal penalties by amending the Omnibus Election Code, targeted voter education and broader democratic safeguards.

The survey had 1,200 respondents and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent nationwide and 6 percent per region.