EDITORIAL – Vote buying

Widespread vote buying across the country has marred the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections last Monday. Reports said some candidates dangled as high as P500 per voter to secure victory.

The Commission on Elections even noted that the most prevalent offenses in the elections was vote buying. A candidate alleged to be buying votes cannot be disqualified but can be ousted from his post once proven guilty.

But buying votes during election is not already news. It has long been the tradition in this country for decades. It is the surest way to win in the elections and has long been the practice of politicians, especially those traditional ones, as they bid to perpetuate themselves in power.

The only thing that concerns many during the recent political exercises is that even Sangguniang Kabataan candidates have become swallowed by the system as many of them used the color of money to win the votes of their young constituents.

As it stamped its presence in the last elections, vote buying only taught the youth that it's permitted to use money to secure victory since no one will accost any candidate for such wrongdoing as long as he will not get caught.

That is why we cannot blame youth candidates it they think it's acceptable to buy votes during SK election since it has long been the practice of politicians and the reason why they hold on to power for a long time.

We have to admit that it's hard to eliminate such illegal practice during elections because authorities have always been remiss in their duty to go after those offenders. Had they been so religious in putting more teeth into the law against vote buying, the recent election would have been a different story.

Vote buying will continue to be the practice during elections because it has already penetrated our electoral system that even the youth, the country's future leaders, have started to embrace it.