Bawal na ang pamimigay ng pera bilang isang uri ng ‘ayuda’ (tulong) o pa-raffle ng mga kandidato kapag nagsimula ang campaign period, ayon sa Commission on Elections (Comelec) kahapon.
“That’s prohibited, that is vote buying. Can’t give anything of value to supporters to encourage them to vote. You might say that is for another reason but none of us are born yesterday. We all know that it’s going to be for vote-buying purposes,” ayon kay Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez sa isang virtual press briefing.
Umapela naman si Jimenez sa mga makakasaksi sa nabanggit na ilegal na gawain at magsampa ng reklamo at ituloy ito.
“It’s very important. For those who see such things being done, you feel are vote-buying activities, please file a complaint. And please stay with the complaint so we can prosecute to the finish,” ayon sa kanya.
Ang 90-araw na campaign period para sa mga pambansang puwesto tulad ng presidente, bise-presidente, senador at party-list groups ay magsisimula sa Pebrero 8, at ang 45-araw na campaign period para sa mga local aspirants ay magsisimula sa Marso 25.
“It goes without saying that you can no longer give money away and say it is for ayuda, you can’t walk around with a cash gun and make it rain. You can’t do that,” dagdag pa ni Jimenez.
Gary P Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
