The Commission on Elections (Comelec) rejected claims that prohibiting vote selling is anti-poor.
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said allowing such prohibited act will only cause more harm than good for the poor.
"Wag niyong sabihin na anti-poor ang pagbabawal sa vote selling kasi mas magkakaroon ng danyos ang mahirap kapag napunta ang posisyon sa mga taong namili lang ng boto," he told DZRH in an interview.
(Don’t say that prohibiting vote selling is anti-poor because the poor would be more damaged if positions are won by people who bought votes.)
"Wala po kayong maaasahan na magandang pamamalakad sa mga taong nanalo sa ganyang paraan," he added. "So wag niyong iisipin na maganda para sa kababayan natin yung tumatanggap ng perang pamboto."
(You can’t expect good governance from a person who won through that method. So don’t think that it is good for our fellowmen to accept bribe money.)
He reiterated Comelec's stand that vote-buying and selling are acts punishable by law, and told politicians to stop encouraging them even for practical reasons.
"Ang paliwanag ko lang po ay simple lang naman, ang vote buying at vote selling ay parehong pinaparusahan ng batas. Mali pa rin yan, iligal pareho yan," he said.
(My explanation is simple: Vote buying and bote selling are both punishable by law. Those are wrong, and both are illegal.)
"Sabihin niyo eh nagiging praktikal lang ako, oo fine nagiging practical ka, pero wag kang mag-udyok na lumabag sa batas," he added.
(You can say you’re being practical, then fine you’re being practical, but don’t encourage others to violate the law.)
The spokesperson said that while it is true that a lot of people are relying on such acts, it does not make vote-selling correct.
"Hindi rin kaila sa atin na marami sa kababayan natin ang umaasa sa perang natatanggap sa vote buying. Hindi yan dahilan para i-consider na tama ang vote selling, mali pa rin ang vote-selling," he said.
(We are not blind to the fact that a lot of our citizens are relying on money from vote-buying. But that’s not a reason to consider vote-selling as correct. Vote selling is still wrong.)
The issue of vote-buying came up after Vice President and presidential aspirant Leni Robredo told voters to accept bribe money from politicians but still vote according to their conscience.
She later clarified this and said vote-buying is wrong, but it is frustrating that regulations against such acts are not implemented properly.
