With a voting population of just over 800, the special elections for five communities in Barangay (the village of) Gabi here could become one of the costliest, at least for the pockets of the candidates.
Several Catholic bishops said on Wednesday they were saddened that vote-buying worsened during the May 13 elections, an indication that the Catholic Church should boost its efforts to educate voters amid a nation facing values crisis.
At least 22 people were arrested in the last two days for illegal possession of firearms and explosives and vote-buying in Cebu.
Despite the exertions of the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) to stop politicians from buying votes, money ruled the day in many parts of the country on Monday as Filipinos voted in midterm elections.
Rampant reports on massive vote buying in different towns in Quezon have been received by the police provincial office in Camp Nakar here, said the spokesman of the Quezon Philippine National Police.
Twelve million voters in 26 provinces in Mindanao go to the polls on Monday to elect local officials in the second automated elections in three years.
On the eve of Election Day, Metro Manila policemen were busy attending to complaints of vote-buying in Taguig, violators of the liquor ban in Pasay City and the spread of fake raffle tickets supposedly by a mayoral candidate in Parañaque.
Four persons were arrested in two separate incidents after they were caught either distributing or handling envelops containing money and sample ballots in Iloilo and Cebu on Sunday, the eve of the May 13 elections.
Police in Candaba, Pampanga, on Saturday filed a complaint against an election coordinator in what is believed to be the first vote-buying case brought by the police in at least 20 years.
The rains have come. No, it’s not an official declaration that summer is over. It’s the traditional opening for business of the “vote market” that is an attendant feature of Philippine elections, including tomorrow’s exercise.
Police in Candaba, Pampanga, on Saturday filed a case against a mayoral candidate’s coordinator who was caught giving out money to villagers in the town in exchange for votes, a prohibited act under the Omnibus Election Code.
How much is a Filipino’s vote worth these days? According to the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), candidates are offering up to P3,500 for a single vote in Ilocos Norte, P3,000 in neighboring Ilocos Sur, P2,000 in Zamboanga Sibugay, and P100 in Tawi-Tawi.
Take the money but junk the candidate. Opposed by President Benigno Aquino III and blocked anew by the Supreme Court on the election “money ban,” Commission on Elections chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. on Friday appealed directly to voters to junk candidates offering money for their votes to teach them a lesson.
