Vote-buying

HAPPY WEEKEND
Gina Dizon

The signing of a covenant by political candidates last week in Bontoc, Mountain Province for peaceful and honest May 2010 elections was a subtle way of campaigning.

I have no issue with this though as it is a pro-active way of dealing with an event in a meaningful and relevant manner much as the May 2010 elections is just around the corner. In fact, I commend the event as it calls for the commitment of each candidate to make the May 2010 elections peaceful, fair, free, and honest.

This includes discouraging vote buying. Mountain Province heavily experienced vote buying with voters reportedly receiving 200 to 1000 pesos for their individual/family votes in previous elections. This was learned practically in almost all towns of the Province in the previous 2007 election year and the previous election periods up to the time that the Mountain Province electorate remembers.

The covenant signing may herald sincerity among candidates of not indulging in vote buying which has barred the electorate in voting for whom they think is the most qualified and fitting for such a position.

It will stamp commitment of doing away with traditional politics or what some call mainstream politics. Traditional politics has clawed on the psyche of the public whose soul has been held by politicians who bought peoples’ votes willingly received. Receiving the money meant sustaining a vicious system if not cancerous, that has eaten on the very independence and creativity of people to exercise their fundamental freedom of expression translated into non-exposure of irregularities which the elected candidate may have done.

Much as the voter will sustain corruption by not talking about corruption in government, vote buying will also sustain the vicious practice of politicians to source out funds to buy votes come every election period. That means a lot of money for some 150,000 voters of Mountain Province.

Where the money was sourced from naturally asks the question of how the money is going to be repayed. Chances are the money has been loaned from banks, payment of a sold property, pledged by some individuals in exchange for some prospective contracts, or some gifts donated by friends. Yet, there is nothing as a free lunch and chances are, the politician will pay back the money he has received. And where he will get the money to pay back? Your answer is as good as mine.

In the same way, the politician gets back what he has given to the voter and gets the voter voting and corrupted too. With a kilo of rice bought from the money received along with a nagging feeling of utang na loob, the voter corrupts himself too.

Some though would buy a bottle of San Miguel and let friends around share in the drinks. In whatever way you rationalize about it, the money was not given for free. It comes with a price. Either your conscience will hit you come election time or you will be directed to write the name of the vote buying candidate due to external forces. And if your conscience is not bothered, you are still contributing to sustaining corruption.

Some politicians would make sure that the person who got the money will vote for them. Words are rife that ballots are double checked with the ballot number of the voter and a voter is harassed if he voted for another candidate other than the one from whom he has received the money.

The country’s election law definitely calls for penalties on politicians who practice vote buying which according to the Omnibus Election Code means “giving, offering or promising money or anything of value” to induce anyone to vote for or against any candidate.

Vote-buying carries the penalty of one to six years imprisonment as well as the removal of the right to vote and be voted for. Yet I never heard of one who has been successfully penalized for vote buying.