“Millions” to shower voters as poll comes near

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Many mayors in Pangasinan will be financially aiding their favored candidate for the punong barangay (PB or village chief) in the May 14 village poll by covertly giving them from tens of thousands to millions of pesos to see them win.

                             VIDEO: Vote buying in the Philippines

“I will be giving P50, 000 to each of the almost the entire incumbent barangay captains (old title of the chiefs) that seek reelection and those running for the top post for the first time,” cited by a mayor to his pet bets at the Third Congressional District of the 48 towns and cities’ province.

He said he abets this practice because his vice mayor and an opponent in the next year’s mayoralty poll have been giving financial aid to his backed up candidates for the village chairmanship.

Both the mayor and the vice mayor are moneyed businessmen.

This generosity from the benefactor could be an election offense on the part of the beneficiary candidate if he or she will not declare the sum he receives to the Commission on Election.

 The Omnibus Election Code provides Section 99 (Report of Contributions) and Section 107 (Statement of Contributions and Expenditures).

Another mayor of a town in the western part of the province said that even almost all the reelectionist village chiefs are his allies,  he will still be giving them each P20,000 campaign fund  that they could indispensably use for their stumps.

Candidates for the kapitan  and kagawad (council member) have been giving P20, P50, and P100 bills and materials like the cheap plastic pitcher and towel during their sorties even in the first half of the  nine days campaign  period that started last May 4.

But customs dictate that in the eve of the Election Day in Monday, people in the vote- rich Pangasinan called “pakurong (crawl)”, the bets for the punong barangay through their leaders will be surreptitiously giving between P200 to P1000 to each of the voters.

“I’ve been giving P1000 to each selected voters since I ran for Kapitan in the 1990s especially if my opponent gives P700. I have to surpass his magnanimity to these voters for sale in a squatter area in my village whose barometer of loyalty is the quantity of figures on the bill,” an aspirant for the PB in Dagupan City deplored.

Pakurong is where voters stayed awake at nighttime and where many of them waited at the side streets for the leaders of the candidates to give them sum and even feed them with arroz caldo (congee).

The fiesta atmosphere has been a longtime practice in the humongous province that voters relish every time there is an election.

Although this is a violation of the OEC as seen on Section 261 on Vote Buying and Vote Selling, bets and voters still plunge to it as the state security was unmindful to this practice and the Comelec lacks the personnel to run after these malefactors.

An adviser of a city mayor in another province told me that the latter will be aiding the bet for the barangay captain with three to five million pesos in a mano-a-mano where the opponent is backed up by the rival of the mayor in the 2019 election.

All the mayors and other sources being interviewed here asked for anonymity.

 Meanwhile, another mayor warned a mayoralty wannabe who came from other town to stop interfering in his area of jurisdiction. The wannabe had been doling out P100, 000 to selected candidates for the May 14, 2018 village election chairmanship as his strategy to win the loyalty of the wide eyed beneficiaries.

“You’re not a resident of this town. In case we crossed path I will order for your arrest” the hizzoner – a slang for “His Honor the Mayor” - loudly declared to the employees of the municipal hall during their flag ceremony.

Omnibus Election Code says the above practice is a violation where a person induces anyone or the public in general to vote for or against any candidate or withhold his vote in the election. 
It can be seen on second half of Section 261 (Election Offenses) paragraph a.

Moreover, Resolution No. 10294 promulgated in April 11, 2018 by the Comelec says: The aggregate amount that a candidate may spend for an election campaign for purposes of the 2018 Barangay and SK Elections shall be FIVE PESOS (PHP 5.00) for every voter currently registered in the constituency where the candidate filed his certificate of candidacy (Section 5).

Aside from the penalty on the violation of these provisions, no person elected to any public office shall enter upon the duties of his office until he has filed the statement of contributions and expenditures herein required (Section 111) as mandated by the OEC.

Violations of Sections 261 (Election Offenses) and others entail an imprisonment of not less than one year but not more than six years and shall not be subject to probation.  Other administrative sanctions wait those public officials who violated the OEC.

Book by the author: P250 each

Contact: totomortz@yahoo.com

 (You can read my selected columns at mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)