Vice President Leni Robredo speaking before Meeting of the Rotary Club of Manila. Screengrab from Facebook / OVP
MANILA, Philippines — Presidential aspirant and Vice President Leni Robredo on Friday fired back at her critics who kept on making a big deal of her statement about vote-buying.
Robredo, in a press conference, said that she is not condoning vote buying, but is only pointing out the “realities on the ground” that vote-buying remains very rampant despite it being an offense against the Omnibus Election Code.
“Ito yung realities eh. Dapat ang pinoproblema natin, hindi yung statement ko. Ang problema natin ay kung pano mae-enforce yun [laws against vote buying],” Robredo told reporters and supporters in Sorsogon.
(That’s the reality. Don’t make a big deal of my statement. Our problem is how to enforce the laws against vote-buying.)
The vice president called on government forces to enforce laws against vote-buying, noting that she was a victim of vote-buying herself.
Robredo, while stressing that vote-buying is an illegal act, told voters to take a more pragmatic approach of taking the money from politicians — which, she said, could be taxpayer’s money anyway — but vote based on conscience. She said this could also serve as a lesson to politicians if they did not win the elections despite paying for votes.
The presidential aspirant also said it is “easy” to say that one is against vote-buying without considering other factors.
Robredo said: “Madali lang sabihin na kontra ako sa vote buying, pero yung pagkontra kasi kailangan i-situate. Kontra ako sa vote buying, pero bakit merong batas against sa vote buying pero bakit masyadong flagrant yung bilihan ng boto on the ground?”
(It’s easy to say that I am against vote-buying, but we need to situate our opposition in a certain context. I am against vote-buying, but why does vote-buying remain flagrant on the ground despite the laws against it?)