Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 6) — The Commission on Elections’s (Comelec) Committee on Kontra Bigay on Friday filed disqualification cases against five candidates of the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) for vote buying.
Comelec Commissioner Ernesto Maceda Jr., head of the committee, said this is only the initial batch and they expect more cases to be filed.
“These are the usual vote buying scenarios, you can find it under our resolution,” he told reporters. “Giving of money or liquor, or sponsorship of outings.”
“Wala pa ‘yung other kinds of vote buying like GCash,” he added. “We expect those things to happen as we get nearer to the campaign period proper.”
The cases were filed against two BSKE bets in Marikina City, one in Quezon province, one in Samar and one in Maguindanao. Four of them are running for barangay captain, while one is a lone bet for barangay kagawad.
The candidates in Marikina City were allegedly caught giving financial assistance to some individuals worth ₱1,500 after filing their certificate of candidacy (COC).
The case in Samar involved a candidate sponsoring a meal at a resort, while the candidate in Quezon province was present at a local official’s distribution of relief assistance.
Rafael Olaño, Comelec’s deputy executive director for operations, said they filed the disqualification cases first against the violators who are also subject to election offense cases.
“Lahat po ito ay may mga complaints galing sa mga botante, mga tao dun sa lugar,” he explained. “So vinerify po namin ito at inevaluate kung talagang mayroon ngang ground na posibleng mafile-an sila ng disqualification case.”
[Translation: All of the complaints come from the voters, the people in those municipalities. So we verified and evaluated to really see if we can file disqualification cases to these reported violators.]
Olaño also said the petitions they filed include the motion to suspend proclamation ad cautelam or ‘for caution’ to suspend proclamation.
“Ibig sabihin po nun halimbawa po pending pa ‘yung case noong magkaroon ng eleksyon, at nanalo yung respondent dito sa kaso,” he explained. “So ipapa-suspend po muna yung kanilang proclamation. So ibig sabihin they will not be proclaimed until ma-decide yung kaso against them.”
[Translation:This means that even if a candidate who has a pending win in an election, we will suspend their proclamation. Which means they will not be proclaimed until the case has been decided.]
Candidates have five days from the receipt of the petition to respond before the case will be raffled to a division for resolution.
The Committee on Kontra Bigay is working on 41 more disqualification cases on vote buying but it says more complaints are coming in.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia earlier said disqualification cases on vote buying will take longer to be resolved compared to those of premature campaigning.
Premature campaigning cases require the candidates to respond to a show cause order and the poll body validating the existence of the campaign material.
Meanwhile, Maceda said he is stepping down as chairman of the Committee on Kontra Bigay.
He explained that he cannot head the committee since he is part of the division and en banc, which will be hearing the cases.
Maceda will be replaced by the committee’s vice chairman, Comelec Executive Director Teopisto Elnas Jr.
