CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines - The May 9 elections for provincial and local officials in several provinces in Mindanao were reportedly far from being fair and honest due to rampant vote-buying and disinformation, according to election monitoring groups.

Two days before the May 9 elections, reports from these groups said money ranging from P20 to P5,000 per voter flooded communities in Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, and Lanao del Norte.

"Runners" (political operators) on motorcycles reportedly distributed the money at night and in the wee hours of dawn to voters during the weekend before election day.