VOTE buying is a serious offense, one of many illegal activities in the category of election fraud, and is in fact a crime that is punishable with imprisonment and permanent disqualification to hold public office.
The practice is so commonplace and controversial that the Omnibus Election Code, in its Section 261, discusses in great length what constitutes vote buying so that the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the police, and the judiciary will be guided accordingly, without the risks of misinterpretation.
Vote buying is defined as the act of “any person who gives, offers or promises money or anything of value, gives or promises any office or employment, franchise or grant, public or private, or makes or offers to make an expenditure, directly or indirectly, or cause an expenditure to be made to any person, association, corporation, entity, or community in order to induce anyone or the public, in general, to vote for or against any candidate or withhold his vote in the election, or to vote for or against any aspirant for the nomination or choice of a candidate in a convention or similar selection process of a political party.”
‘It is hard to build up cases, arrest and prosecute offenders, but the Comelec, the Philippine National Police, the courts and the public should not give up trying.’
Those who will be found guilty of this election offense shall be punished with imprisonment of not less than one year but not more than six years and shall not be subject to probation.
Also, the violator shall be sentenced to suffer disqualification to hold public office and deprivation of the right of suffrage.
The penal clause, stringent and straightforward as it is, has failed to dissuade violators from engaging in vote buying because political power and the windows it will open for financial gain prove to be very strong temptations for politicians.
In the elections this year, vote buying took many forms: giving out TUPAD and other national government pandemic subsidies during the campaign period; distributing groceries and other food items with cash, which should have been given earlier to typhoon victims; herding campaign rally participants with cash incentives, food and transport; launching emergency employment programs such as sweeping of streets; actual handing out of cash in envelopes, etc. The list is long and the ways of distributing dole-outs are creative, with incumbents more in a position to buy votes with government and private funds than their rivals.
The Comelec said of the many complaints in connection with vote buying, it is focusing on 10 cases with complete evidence and supported by affidavits from witnesses and complainants. They hope to file cases in court against the perpetrators.
It is hard to build up cases, arrest and prosecute offenders, but the Comelec, the Philippine National Police, the courts and the public should not give up trying. Vote buying is a scourge of our elections and should be nipped in the bud at every opportunity.
