Root of Corruption and Illegal Activities Rampant vote-buying has become one of the major causes of graft and corruption in our community today. As observed during the election period, some candidates seeking position in the government will recruit potential leaders in their respective community who can assure them10 prospective voters that are willing to sell their votes to guarantee their victory. For example, a candidate running for Punong Barangay or Kagawad plans to spend P500 per person to buy his/her vote. If there are approximately 11,500 voters in the community, a candidate is expected to spend more or less P5,750,000 (5.75 M) in order to buy every vote in the Barangay. A Barangay Captain earns approximately P24,000 per month or a total of P720,000 for his/her whole 3-year term. This is less than 8% of the total amount that a candidate will spend to ensure his/her victory. Given this scenario, how can the candidate be able to get back these campaign funds and raise another P5.75 Million for his/her re-election bid? FYI, Barangay Bugo has an annual IRA (Internal Revenue Allocation) of 11 Million from Del Monte not withstanding other sources of income such as Realty Taxes, Clearances, Cedula, Rentals, Business Permit, Franchises for Sikad, Regulatory Fee from Taxi & Passenger Jeep, including Cemetery proceeds. There are also many spouting illegal activities in Barangay Bugo today, who are the shareholders or investors of these illegal and unethical businesses. Your guess is good as mine. The challenge this election for COMELEC is to address any candidate who continues to practice vote-buying in their communities. Disqualification cases should be filed against these candidates so that every Filipino will know that the COMELEC is not an inutile institution that is incapable of enforcing our election laws. This will enable COMELEC to create a level playing field in the elections wherein it will no longer be just the financially privileged and/or the corrupt leaders who can serve but it will now encourage more effective and ethical leaders to also run for public office. Let’s participate in this anti-corruption campaign in gathering more evidence and persecute all the violators of law. Resist Corruption! Resist Vote Buying! An awareness of not to sell your vote is important. A vote defines your principles and moral values in life. It will impact our society and future generation.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 12:24:43 +0000
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