DOJ to establish composite group, prioritize complaints under anti-vote buying task force

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MANILA — The Department of Justice is ready to prioritize vote-buying complaints lodged with it as part of “Kontra Bigay,” the government’s interagency task force against vote buying that began Tuesday morning.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra stated that he would form a DOJ composite team from the National Prosecution Service, National Bureau of Investigation, Public Attorney’s Office, and main and field offices of the Department of Justice Action Center for the Commission on Election’s Inter-Agency Task Force Against Vote Buying.

“Considering the importance of the forthcoming elections to the survival and recovery of the nation, I will direct the DOJ contingent to give the highest priority to this campaign in the next 40 days,” he said. 

The Commission on Elections will establish the Task Force, which will be composed of the DOJ, Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Philippine Information Agency, National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police, and Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Earlier, Comelec Commissioner George Garcia said that the Comelec would be monitoring social media and technology to detect any vote-buying activities as there could be evidence against vote-buying even if the money is sent via a digital wallet.

The poll body has the authority to act on these incidents on its own. In addition, the Philippine National Police has established 105 special teams to investigate complaints of vote buying and selling.

Earlier this month, footage of supporters handing out envelopes, reportedly with P500 inside, to the attendees of a Uniteam rally in Nueva Ecija went viral on social media after they were first reported by Rappler. Oyie Umali, the province’s governor, said the envelopes contained financial aid.

According to PACC Commissioner Grego Belgica, who is running for senator and whose commission is part of the task force, the vote-buying is a “corrupt election practice” that should not be tolerated as it “obstructs our democratic process by impeding the exercise of our rights to freely choose our leaders.”

“When a candidate chooses to pay for your votes, they show utter disregard for our democratic process and a willingness to use illegal means to further their interests,” Belgica said.

Vote-buying, which entails a prison sentence of one to six years, has long been a concern in Philippine elections.

In 2013, the Comelec tried to address this by proposing a ban on the withdrawal of more than P100,000 a day, the transportation of cash beyond P500,000 and the encashment of checks exceeding P500,000. This was eventually halted by the Supreme Court. The poll body has not attempted to revive the proposal.