The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has issued a memorandum to BSP-supervised financial institutions (BSFIs) to strengthen their surveillance and monitoring systems against vote buying and selling ahead of the May 2025 elections.
BSP Memorandum No. M-2025-006, signed on March 23, specifically instructs BSFIs to take steps to counter the abuse or misuse of digital channels such as online banking and mobile wallet applications for vote buying and selling.
More generally, the BSP instructed BSFIs to ensure that customer onboarding processes, fraud management systems (FMS), and account and transaction monitoring settings can mitigate the possible influx of fraudulent accounts and transactions during the election season.
The BSP suggested that BSFIs watch for red flags, such as a surge in account registrations in areas known for vote buying or selling, large cash transactions during the election period, unusual transaction patterns, and high volume/value in cash-in or cash-out channels.
The BSP memorandum, similar to memoranda issued in previous election cycles, responds to the call from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for stricter mechanisms against vote buying and selling.
Meanwhile, the Comelec and the BSP completed on March 24 the deposit in escrow of the Final Trusted Build Source Codes for the May 2025 national and local elections.
This is in compliance with Republic Act No. 8436, as amended by RA No. 9369, otherwise known as the “Automated Elections System Act.”
The deposited items included the source codes for the Automated Counting Machine (ACM), the Consolidation and Canvassing System (CCS), the Election Management System (EMS), the Secure Electronic Transmission System (SETS), and the Online Voting and Counting System (OVCS). Together, these components form the Automated Elections System.
Held at the BSP head office in Manila, the deposit in escrow was led by Comelec chairman George Erwin M. Garcia and BSP officer-in-charge Elmore O. Capule, with Comelec commissioners Rey E. Bulay and Nelson J. Celis and BSP deputy governor Bernadette Romulo-Puyat. Representatives from the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, the National Movement for Free Elections, and the media also stood as witnesses.
Prior to the deposit, Comelec and the BSP formalized the signing of an escrow agreement.
The source codes, which are stored in digital media storage devices after having undergone the Full Final Trusted Build International Certification and Local Source Code Review, ensure election accuracy, credibility, transparency, and auditability in all of the following electronic processes:
- The counting, consolidation, and canvassing of votes, election returns and certificates of canvass, by the ACM, OVCS, and CCS;
- The transmission of electronic election results thru the SETS; and
- The overall management of the automated elections via the EMS.
The source codes for the 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2022 national and local elections remain deposited inside the BSP’s vaults.
