Archbishop Socrates Villegas. This photo was taken on Feb. 13, 2017, at the office of the Philippine Daily Inquirer for the Meet the Inquirer Forum. at the PDI Office for the “Meet the Inquirer” forum. (File photo by ALEXIS CORPUZ / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas slammed on Tuesday the practice of vote-buying, calling it “marka demonyo” – the devil’s mark.
“The vote buyer puts a price on the voter’s character,” Villegas said in Facebook post written in Filipino.
“The devil’s mark is worse it’s the poor whom the vote buyer puts a price on and tempts,” he added.
The bishop pointed out that, during the election season, the poor are treated like “fish looking for food but instead of being fed, the bait of worms hanging from the hook of the fishing rod is eaten by the vote buyer.”
“When the dignity of the vote is raped and priced, the politician becomes a fake god whom voters worship as idiot-fans, who are on a lower level than a fan,” Villegas said.
He used a Filipino play on the word “tagahanga” — an admirer or a fan — and replaced it with a combination of similar-sounding words — “tanga” or “stupid” and “hanga” or “admiration.”
“If free and intelligent voting is the backbone of the election, vote-buying is like deboning a milkfish. When the milkfish is boneless, it can no longer grow,” Villegas said.
“Spineless. Democracy will be left without a spine if we will not pulverize vote-buying,” he added.
In another statement, he called on the public to fight vote-buying.
Quoting Pope Francis, he said: “Corruption will not stop if we just keep quiet. We must speak out against it. Corruption must be declared wrong. Mercy and compassion reign over selfishness. We can be great even without money.”
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