BAGUIO CITY – The local office of the Commission on Election (Comelec) will be launching a multi-sectoral anti-vote buying campaign in the city to empower the electorate on the various modes of vote buying employed by candidates for elected positions in the May 2019 mid-term elections.
City election Officer Atty. John Paul Martin claimed that his office has received numerous complaints on alleged pre-election vote buying activities by aspiring candidates for elected positions in the local level prompting him to pilot test the multi-sectoral anti-vote buying campaign to put a stop on the alleged illegal activities of some politicians.
He claimed that the multi-sectoral anti-vote buying campaign will be spearheaded by the Comelec Baguio field office in coordination with representatives from various sectors to educate voters on the various types of vote buying activities employed by local politicians to lure votes.
”Now that the aspirants for elected positions are considered to be candidates for next year’s elections after they have filed their certificates of candidacy, the poll body can now apply the appropriate rules and regulations that cover their activities as candidates for various elected positions,” Martin stressed.
He underscored that voters must be educated on the various forms of vote buying for them to help identify vioĺators of the law and not to condone such illegal actions. .
According to him, part of the multi-sectoral anti-vote buying campaign is legal assistance where the Comelec will be distribute forms to be filled up by complaining residents on the alleged vote buying activities of politicians with the appropriate pieces of evidence attached to make it easier for the people to file their vote buying complaints against erring politicians.
He asserted that it is high time that erring politicians and their supporters who resort to vote buying to be elected to public office must be prosecuted to send a clear message to politicians that the poll body is dead set to curb vote buying.
Martin emphasized the electorate must be actively involved in the poll body’s goal to curb vote buying activities of erring politicians by reporting any obvious vote buying activity of politicians and their supporters that have always tainted the conduct of elections in the country over the past several decades.
He stated that the city’s multi-sectoral anti-vote buying campaign will play a key role in informing and educating the electorate in making the right choices for the next set of leaders of the city after the May 2019 mid-term elections which is just a few months away.
By Dexter A. See
