Reports of massive vote-buying reach PPCRV-Butuan

BUTUAN CITY- Complaints of unabashed vote-buying via text messages and phone calls continued to hound the offices of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), the citizen's arm of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), here on Monday. Grace Broncano, PPCRV operations head in the provinces of Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur-Butuan Diocese, urged the tens of thousands of complainants to provide evidence so that authorities could act on their calls and text messages. “They just call us or text us to report that there is on-going vote buying and selling, but when we ask [for] evidence and [for the complainants] to come out in open some [of them] never call back [anymore]. They explain that they are afraid, because politicians involved are powerful," Broncano said in an interview. Vote-buying in the provinces is around P500 for each registered voter, Broncano alleged, citing the complaints flooding her office since Sunday. Some voters themselves, however, have been approaching the campaign leaders of politicians asking for money, the PPCRV said. Many complainants were frustrated by the lack of action on the part of government in dealing with such blatant violations of the Omnibus Election Code, the law governing elections in the country, Broncano. The complainants were wondering how come they have not seen a single person involved in vote-buying go to prison, she said. [See: Report: Fake money spreads in Capiz province] In some municipalities of Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur votes were being bought and sold from P1,000 to P5,000 each, especially when the moneyed mayoral candidates who are also into mining and logging activities are involved, the election watchdog i-vote alleged. In the towns of Santiago, Rosario, and Claver where huge mining and logging interests are at stake, votes were allegedly being bought and sold at P5,000 per voter, the group My Vote is not For Sale Movement reported. Asked how the PPCRV would help report vote buying and selling to the authorities, Broncano said evidence is vital – the act must be substantiated with photos. But poll watchdogs i-vote and “My Vote is not For Sale Movement" said many of their volunteers are afraid to come out in the open because the politicians involved are powerful and almost all government institutions that should implement the laws are allegedly weak and politically tainted. Meanwhile, the PPCRV-Butuan Diocese claimed that six Precinct Count Optical Scan machines in six clustered precincts in six barangays here and two other machines in Santiago conked out as the voting proceeded Monday morning. Broncano said the Comelec and PCOS machine supplier Smartmatic are now trying to fix the machines. The PPCRV also received reports that voting was disrupted by rains in some precincts in the provinces as voters lined outside polling precincts sought shelter from the rain, she said.—Ben Serrano/VS, GMANews.TV