CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu, one of the country’s vote-rich provinces, attracts politicians who wanted to court the support of its over three million voters.
But how much does a Cebuano vote actually cost?
CDN Digital consolidated reports on alleged
vote-buying
in parts of Metro Cebu and the province.
According to information coming from netizens vote-buying here ranges from P500 to as much as P3, 100 this
election
, a lot bigger that what was given in the 2022 local and national elections.
Vote-buying
In Danao City in northern Cebu, some residents received P3,100 while in Badian town in southwestern Cebu,
vote-buying
reached P2,600, according to reports.
In Mandaue City, cash ranging from P1,000 to P2,000 were distributed to voters since Thursday, May 8. These were placed inside envelopes together with a printout of the sample ballots indicating the candidates names on it.
Another P100 was separately given by a party-list group.
There were also candidates who allegedly engaged in special operations to make sure that they are not forgotten in Monday’s elections and separately gave an additional P100.
In Consolacion town, vote-buying reportedly ranged from P500 to P1, 500.
Meanwhile, in the neighboring cities of Cebu and Talisay, P500 were reportedly received by some of the voters. Some residents in Cebu City also reported getting P600: P500 for a mayoral bet and a P100 for a party-list.
Huge amount of cash
A netizen said that this is so far, the first election in Cebu wherein money in ‘huge amount’ were given to voters through their purok or family leaders.
“Dawaton lang unta na unya mo botar lang gihapon ta basi sa atong kunsinsya,” a netizen told CDN Digital.
(I hope that people will just accept the money and continue to vote according to the dictates of their conscience.)
However, there were also those who did not receive anything from any of the candidates.
“Ambot nganong wala mi naapil og kamang,” one voter said.
(I don’t know why we did not receive anything.)
CDN Digital has opted not to divulge the names of concerned citizens for their security and privacy.
Comelec’s warning
The Commission on Elections earlier warned against vote-buying, which is a punishable under Section 261 (a) of Batas Pambansa Blg. 881.
Sanctions include “imprisonment of not less than one year but not more than six years and shall not be subject to probation.”
“In addition, the guilty party shall be sentenced to suffer disqualification to hold public office and deprivation of the right of suffrage. If he is a foreigner, he shall be sentenced to deportation which shall be enforced after the prison term has been served. Any political party found guilty shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than ten thousand pesos, which shall be imposed upon such party after criminal action has been instituted in which their corresponding officials have been found guilty,” it added.