MANILA, May 14, 2013— The recent local and national elections hold the distinction with the most rampant incidence of vote buying, a Catholic Church-backed poll watchdog said.
Henrietta de Villa, chairperson of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, said that vote buying this time “was bolder and on a bigger scale.”
Aside from giving money, vote buying was also done in form of rice, food packs, mobile phones and even giving education scholarships.
“They did everything just to entice people to vote for them,” she said.
De Villa made the statement Tuesday during a press briefing at the PPCRV command center in Manila where the unofficial count of the recent automated elections is conducted.
“In all areas, the public knows the candidates who engaged in vote buying but no one gets arrested because there’s a need for material evidence,” she added.
The PPCRV chief attributed the worsening culture of money politics to the growing problem of poverty in the country “even of the people know that it’s wrong.”
“Because of poverty, they are forced to buy the bullet,” de Villa said. (CBCPNews)
