PPCRV laments wholesale vote buying

The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) yesterday lamented incidence of vote-buying that has become sophisticated, from retail to wholesale in some areas seven months before election day.

PPCRV national chairperson Henrietta de Villa said if vote-buying in the past used to be per voter, now it has become per barangay.

“I was so flustered when Fr. Dave came and he told me that (vote-buying) is now per barangay and not per voter anymore or retail,” she said in her speech during the PPCRV 24th anniversary celebration at the Pope Pius Center in Manila.

The going rate in some barangays, De Villa further revealed is R1,000 per head.

‘Flying voters’ Manila Bulletin sources in Baliuag, Bulacan confirmed the wholesale vote buying that has been going on since July in some areas.

The sources revealed that residents from Bulacan towns were brought to the upland municipality of Dona Remedios Trinidad (DRT) as early as July where they were made to register as new voters by supporters of a gubernatorial aspirant in Bulacan.

One of the “flying” voter told the Manila Bulletin that a certain “Dilario” came to their village and promised to pay each voter R1,000 cash to register as “voters” in the town of DRT to favor the candidates of a former governor in the coming May polls.

Aside from the cash money, the villagers were also promised additional R2,000 cash and a sack of rice if they voter votes for the candidates of the former provincial official.

But the first batch of “flying voters” cried foul after they were given an initial payment of P350 after they registered with a promise of more money on election day.

The source revealed that since July to the present, at least 130 of her neighbors have already registered as new voters of DRT.

Dirty politics “This nefarious political tactic is still going on in several villages here,” the source added.

“This is a clear early bad political move of erring politicians in this province seven months before the 2016 election,” a group of Bulakenyos said. “They are just wasting their time. Instead of improving the lives of residents, they took advantage of poor residents to feed their interests. We hope they change for the better,” they added.

The source surmised that the reason why the culprits chose DRT is because it is located in the hinterlands of Bulacan where agriculture is the chief means of livelihood.

This scheme, the source added has already been brought to the attention of Baliwag Mayor Carol Dellosa who urged the Provincial Election Supervisor to investigate the matter which could be a new form of “dagdagbawas (add-shave scheme)”.

“Madadagdagan daw po kasi ang boto ng mga kandidato nila sa 3rd district at mababawasan naman sa Baliwag at 2nddistrict, (their candidate will have more votes in the 3rd district while Baliwag and the 2nd district candidates would lose some votes)” the source added.

The source added that the “flying voters” can vote twice – in DRT and Baliwag because they still have their voter’s ID.

It’s a deal De villa said this is what they hope to eradicate in their voter education program called “One Good Vote”.

“Its about time that we start demolishing vote selling and vote buying. Its saddening that many voters are also selling their votes, treating the elections as if it’s a business transaction,” De Villa said.

“Its time for us to unite. Let us push for this,” added the country’s former ambassador to the Vatican.

As part of their campaign, De Villa said they will be putting “One Good Vote” stickers in places in places of people who reject vote buying and vote selling.

“If the family agrees not to sell their vote regardless of the person who approached them or offered them, we will be giving them ‘One Good Vote’ stickers,” she said.

Three Ks The PPCRV official reminded voters to always choose their candidates based on the three K’s namely; Karakter (character), Kakayahan (capability) and Katapatan (integrity).

“It should always be a conscience-driven selection of candidates,” de Villa said.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Andres Bautista, meantime, expressed his support to the campaign of the PPCRV.

“This campaign of the PPCRV is a big help that’s why we are supporting it. If you will notice, that is also in accordance with the campaign of the Comelec for ‘right vote and right counting’,” he said.

During the May 2013 polls, the church-backed poll watchdog group also assailed vote-buying in the country which they said have become more sophisticated and rampant.