Campaign period
THE election campaign period for this year’s fully-computerized presidential, congressional, regional and local elections ends on Saturday, May 7.
This means that those running for national and local posts, including the 10 presidential hopefuls, have only 12 days left to convince the electorate to vote for them on May 9.
The national campaign season kicked off on Tuesday, February 8, while the campaign period for local candidates started on Friday, March 25, ot 45 days before election day.
The Filipino people, particularly the electorate, expect Comelec and law enforcement authorities to ensure the holding of clean, honest, peaceful and credible elections.
As the end of the campaign period approaches, concerned government officials have to intensify the nationwide drive against vote-buying or vote-selling in the countryside.
It is public knowledge that moneyed and influential local politicians, aware of the extreme poverty gripping the people in the rural areas, resort to vote-buying during elections.
In some areas, local candidates hire an army of “coordinators” and “sub-coordinators” to list the names of registered voters who are to receive “ayuda” before judgment day.
“Ang masakit lang ay hindi alam ng mga politikong ito na ang kanilang mga coordinator ay mga coordinator din ng mga kalaban nilang kandidato,” a laughing village official said.
Some quarters, on the other hand, blamed the people, particularly the voting population, for “encouraging” the filthy rich candidates to buy votes to ensure their victory.
The voters know that vote-buying is against the law “pero ayaw naman nilang iboto ang mga kandidatong wala man lang maibigay na pang-kape kapag nangangampanya sila.”
