Duterte: Vote-buying ‘integral part of PH elections’
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Mon, 13 May 2019 12:22:57 +0000
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Monday called vote-buying an “integral” part of the country’s election, saying that this practice is fairly normal among Filipinos.
Duterte issued the statement as reports of vote-buying, defective vote counting machines (VCMs) and election-related violence marred the 2019 midterm elections.
Speaking to reporters after voting in his hometown, Davao City, Duterte said that vote-buying incidents were still rampant as many Filipinos remained poor.
“Well, ganito iyan (it’s like this), if they are caught, they should be prosecuted to the full length of the law. Now, the practice of buying votes has been an integral part of an election in the Philippines. Iyang pagboto, lahat iyan. Walang nagbibili ng boto dito, maniwala ka (In voting, not one of them does not buy votes, believe me),” he said.
Duterte’s candidate for Quezon City mayor, Vincent “Bingbong” Crisologo, for instance, was arrested on Sunday night for his alleged involvement in vote-buying.
Sixty people in Makati City were also arrested for the same offense, some of whom were alleged supporters of incumbent Mayor Abigail “Abby” Binay.
Duterte said some people gave or received cash, but it may simply be just to ensure that a voter could commute to the polling precinct, cast a ballot, and return home.
“Hindi naman lahat ng tao may pera (Not everyone has money) . . . Or, you send food to your leaders who are here sacrificing and waiting for the food to eat so they can last until the last vote is counted,” he said.
The President also said that it would be hard to pin down vote-buying as it came in “many forms.”
“Leader ko ‘yan, alangan naman patayin ko sa gutom. Kaya mahirap ‘yang vote-buying, it can take many forms, basta mahirap talaga ‘yan (That’s my leader, I can’t let them starve to death. Vote-buying, that’s hard to pin down, it can take many forms),” Duterte said.
“For as long as the Philippines remains to be a poor country, for as long as the feudal system exists lalo na sa (even more in) rural areas, aggravated by the communists,” he added.
Asked about his assessment of Monday’s elections, Duterte expressed confidence that nothing would disrupt the polls despite explosions in Maguindanao, an armed confrontation in Sulu, massive vote-buying and other election-related incidents.
“I have yet to receive something that is what is just the ordinary, the vote-buying and the violence there, violence here. But nothing of a big one that would maybe probably disturb the conduct of elections throughout the nation,” he said.
The President said he wanted to visit Lanao del Sur on Sunday but said this “might be construed by the many na (that) campaigning beyond the allowable days.”
“And rather than risk disqualification, parang hindi naman talaga pwede (which is not possible). I will not,” he said.
“But ang Samar, Lanao del Sur remains to be controllable. I communicate with the sa taas (higher ups), sa army at sa pulis (and to the police) almost every hour for them to tell if there’s something big, a big splash in the conduct of the elections,” Duterte added.
Explosions, power interruptions
At about 1 a.m. on Monday, explosions hit the town hall of Datu Odin Sinsuat municipality in Maguindanao province — three hours after two rifle grenades fired from a distance exploded some 20 meters away from the back fence of Cotabato City hall.
No individual was reported hurt in the two incidents.
Lt. Col. Sabri Lakibul, the town’s police chief, said a closed-circuit television footage caught two men aboard a motorbike, tossing what could be a hand grenade, and later sped away.
“The motive was simply to sow fear,” he said.
In Cotabato City, initial investigation revealed that 40-millimeter grenades fired from M-79 grenade launchers could have caused the blasts at about 10:15 p.m. on Sunday at the proposed site of the Children’s Park in Purok Omar, Barangay Rosary Heights 10.
City police investigators and members of the bomb ordinance disposal team have yet to determine the cause of the explosion.
In Misamis Oriental, Clarin town councilor Reid Isidro Moreno was shot dead after he cast his vote past 8 a.m. on Monday.
P/Lt. Col. Benildo Tumanda, provincial police chief, said that Moreno was on his way home when he was waylaid by hooded assailants.
Prior to the incident, Moreno was reportedly receiving death threats.
Tumanda said personal grudge was the primary motive but investigators were not ruling out politics.
Despite the Department of Energy’s assurance, power interruptions hit parts of the Philippines on Monday, Election Day, the National Electrification Administration (NEA) said.
Power outage hit Basilan Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Baselco) affecting 69 barangay (villages) in the towns of Moh Ajul, Akbar, Tipo-Tipo, Ungkayapukan, Al-Barka, Sumisip, and Tuburan, all in Basilan province, NEA said in a Facebook post.
Baselco reported a line fault that caused an outage and that restoration efforts were ongoing.
The same occurred in the franchise area of South Cotabato 2 Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Socoteco 2) at 4:26 p.m. after the 69-kilovolt (kV) Alabel -Glan Sectionalizer tripped.
“Survey in the area now being conducted,” Socoteco 2 added.
Faulty VCMs
After receiving reports of defective VCMs, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) admitted that the problem had tripled compared to the 2016 presidential elections.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said that 400 to 600 out of the 85,000 VCMs in precincts across the country encountered glitches, while the total number of machine problems in the 2016 elections was at 188.
“In the overall scheme of things, that is a small number but compared to 2016, the figure is jarring,” he said in a press conference.
Among those who encountered problems with the VCMs were former vice president Jejomar Binay, who is running for Makati representative, and reelectionist Senators Nancy Binay and Grace Poe.
Jimenez acknowledged that the VCM in Binay’s precinct could be defective and ordered that the former vice president’s ballot be refed to the machine, “then we will respond to the rest of the problem when we get there.”
In Pasig and Makati, mayoral candidate Vico Sotto and reelectionist Nancy Binay deferred casting their votes in their respective precincts earlier on Monday until the VCM issue gets fixed.
Even the celebrities were not spared.
Karla Estrada posted a photo of her lining up in a polling station. With her son Daniel Padilla and his loveteam Kathryn Bernardo, they are supporting her ex-husband Rommel Padilla, who is running as congressman of the first district of Nueva Ecija.
Meanwhile, Duterte said he would let the Comelec explain to the public the reported malfunctions of VCMs that delayed the voting in some areas.
Duterte said it would be too early to seek an investigation into the reported machine malfunctions.
“That would be early. Comelec is an independent body. And if there’s any malfunction or if there’s any abberation at all in the procedure of the process in the conduct of election, let Comelec explain first to the people before we even initiate a sort of investigation,” he said.
“That is in the cognizance of the separation of powers of our independent commissions,” he added. MAYVELLIN U. CARABALO, CATHERINE S. VALENTE, ANGELICA BALLESTEROS, WILLIAM DEPASUPIL, DEMPSEY REYES, PATRICK ROXAS, MASIDING NOOR YAHYA, JORDEENE LAGARE, AND CRIS DIAZ
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