Vote-buying in Kalinga scored, automation praised

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Aside from the remarkable advances brought about by poll automation, what stands out in the minds of some residents of this province regarding the last elections was the massive vote-buying which took place.

In the capital town, there are reports that the vote-buying binges of some politicians extended to the day of the election itself.

Grocer Paul Naoy, 55, of Casigayan, this city, told the ZZW the practice of exchanging votes for material things including cash should stop because it’s the children who will suffer as a result.

“The benefits of selling votes are momentary but the effects on the community are long lasting. Once a politician who has bought votes wins, he will always find a way to recoup his expenses through corruption to the detriment of the community,” Naoy said.

Manuel Onalan, 49, a resident of Bulanao, this city, and a cooperative officer, said that the mercenary character of politics in the province has become so pervasive that when he tried to recruit volunteers for Liberal Party standard-bearer Benigno Aquino III, those he approached asked how much they will be paid.

He continued that due to their level of ignorance, 80 percent of the Kalinga electorate are vulnerable to deception, gimmickry and material enticement by unscrupulous politicians.

“It is hard to eradicate the practice of vote-buying and selling unless we now start preaching and exemplifying politics of principles and action,” Onalan said.

On the other hand, all are agreed that automation has revolutionized the electoral process for the better.

Radio ng Bayan station manager Basilio Baluyan, 54, said that during past elections, the heat generated by the exercise was felt and vented through the airwaves.

“Complaints from politicians and their supporters used to inundate the station as though the media could make decisions on their complaints. This elections, aside from complaints about missing names in the voters’ list, so far we only had one candidate who came to complain about an alleged irregularity,” he said.

Mary Anne Buslig, 63, provincial election assistant of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), said that aside from the relative peacefulness and orderliness of the elections, automation also reduced the time for the Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBOC) to complete its task.

“In previous elections, it took us at least a week to complete the canvassing. In contrast, this elections, the winning provincial candidates were proclaimed less than three days after the elections,” the veteran of elections since 1984 said.

Buslig jestingly added that automation has emptied the electoral process of thrill.

“As a substitute for election officers who could no longer take the pressure of municipal canvassing, I am used to fear, nervousness and tension. All that is gone now,” she said.

Farmer John Doclan, Jr., 42, of Casigayan, claimed that automation has eliminated cheating when elections returns (ERs) are transported from the precincts to the canvassing center because now, ERs are transmitted electronically to the canvassing center.

He, however, said that the element of suspense is now gone from the electoral process as the results are revealed right away.

Rev. John Binbinan, 43, pastor of the Assembly of God of Dagupan Centro, this city, who monitored the goings on in the Tabuk Central School for the election watchdog Bantay Eleksyon 2010, is impressed by the speed of the process but said that due to the long queues, some voters failed to vote.

He said that he noticed some of the people who came in the morning when the place was jampacked go home and that he is certain some of them did not come back.

A practicing lawyer who does not want to be named observed that with computers taking over the counting of votes, the role of counsels in the electoral process has been drastically reduced.

He said that he declined the request to represent a candidate because he will only be watching the process “as you cannot object to a machine.”

He, however, warned that with automation making it hard to cheat during the electoral process, vote-buying will become even more rampant in the future.

“A vote will cost more during future elections because vote-buying will be the only way candidates could cheat,” he said. **By Estanislao Albano, Jr., ZZW