The management of GCash, the mobile wallet of Globe Telecom, said it will impose transaction limits on its services until today, as the company’s contribution to preventing vote buying during the midterm elections.
“To support a clean and fair election, our send money services will be temporarily limited until May 12, 2025,” GCash said in an advisory.
The mobile wallet of Globe said limits “will refresh on a daily basis.”
“To avoid any inconvenience, plan your transactions ahead of time,” GCash advised customers.
“Transaction limits will return to normal after the election,” it added.
However, the company did not specify the limit it set on “send cash” transactions or exactly when it started imposing the lower transaction ceiling.
GCash assured that normal transaction limits would resume after the elections.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) earlier 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, 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) through Resolution No. 11104, dated 28 January 2025, for stricter mechanisms against vote buying and selling.
The BSP is collaborating with Comelec and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to address election-related vote buying or selling via financial platforms.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline: “Transaction limits pushed to prevent vote-buying—GCash”