The Commission on Elections, backed by a number of agencies and organizations, has promised to go hammer and tongs against vote buying and vote selling in the May 9 elections. I do not know if any of them actually know what they are up against. In fact, I do not know if they even understand what they are talking about. To me, there is no vote buying or vote selling in the Philippines.
That today happens to be April Fools Day has nothing to do with the substance of that statement, even if today being designated as such a day is the main reason I chose the topic for this column. To me, vote buying presupposes an element of persuasion while vote selling presupposes an element of accession. I do not think either is present in the way money changes hands in Philippine elections.
One has only to look at the current electoral season. I guess there is no argument that the presidential campaign has split the country right down the middle. And while there are more than two candidates for president, the acknowledged fight is really that between Bongbong Marcos and Leni Robredo. And why is the country split right down the middle? Because Filipinos have already long made their choices.
And when their minds have already been made, there really is no point in buying or selling votes, is there? What vote is there to buy from or sell to in a situation where decisions have already been made, the choices sewn up. Of course, it is not over until the actual votes are cast on May 9. But going by how partisans are at each other's throats, there is really no need to buy or sell votes.
But then again, I was not born yesterday. As sure as the sun rises in the east, I know and you know and all of us know that there will be money, lots of it, that will change hands on election day or just before that. But I cannot call it vote buying or vote selling under the circumstances cited above. That is unless the Comelec says money merely changing hands already constitutes vote buying or selling.
And that can be rather tricky considering that money changing hands is as common and natural as breathing and there will be a lot of that which Comelec might capture with technology to produce photographic evidence. But this is one instance where a picture can actually lie. A person with, say, a BBM t-shirt or a Leni cap, might be caught on camera handing another person some money.
Yet who is to say that the money is in consideration of a vote. Certainly the picture will not provide the answer. Evidence without context not only is baseless, it is in fact very dangerous. The money that changed hands could be for something as innocuous as a reservation for a kilo of lechon, the one who took the money being a vendor of the delicacy.
If you think I am trying to be frivolous, why but of course I am. Today is April Fools Day, remember? But frivolity detracts nothing from the seriousness of my contention that there is no vote buying or selling. If at all, whenever money does change hands with an intent that has anything to do with politics and elections, I would more aptly describe it as gratuity, "pahalipay" for making the right choice.
But if the Comelec insists on being nonsensical, then maybe it should start with Leni and a few politically-predisposed bishops, priests, and nuns. All of them have been publicly exhorting people to take any money offered but vote according to conscience although I don't know where conscience may lie after doing that. Nevertheless, these people are front and center of the issue. They were the ones who brought it up.