Comelec to act on vote-buying incidents sans formal complaints — official

The Commission on Election (Comelec) will act on incidents of vote-buying even without formal complaints, Commissioner George Garcia said Friday.

Interviewed on GMA News’ Unang Balita, Garcia said the Comelec will act based on reports of its field personnel who are conducting investigations on vote-buying incidents.

“Be that as it may, kahit na wala pong formal complaints na ganyan, ang Comelec naman po ay mag-a-act na base sa aming mga report mula sa field personnel namin,” he said.

(Be that as it may, even without complaints like that, the Comelec will act based on our reports from our field personnel.)

“Sa kasalukuyan po, wala pa po yung mga nabanggit ko na mga report na yan (Right now, these reports I mentioned are not yet available),” he added.

He made the statement when asked if the Comelec has not received any complaints yet as media reported alleged distribution of cash in some campaign rallies in the provinces.

Garcia said it would be better if ordinary citizens or other stakeholders will file a formal complaint with evidence aside from the ones that the Comelec has gathered.

He warned candidates and political parties that vote-buying is a criminal offense with a penalty of one to six years of imprisonment, adding that the Comelec already created a task force to probe reports on vote-buying incidents. — Joviland Rita/RSJ, GMA News