Palace warns public against vote-buying

Malacañang on Friday discouraged the public from buying and selling votes since these are election offenses. 

Acting deputy presidential spokesperson Kristian Ablan issued the reminder 45 days before Filipinos vote for the country's next set of leaders—from president to municipal councilors—on May 9. 

“The Palace reminds the Filipino people that vote-buying and vote-selling are prohibited acts under the Omnibus Election Code so bawal po tumanggap at bawal din po bumili ng boto (It is illegal to accept payment for votes or to buy votes),” he said at a news conference.

“Anyone found guilty of these prohibited acts under the Omnibus Election Code will face penalties of imprisonment and fine,” he added.

Under the law, any person found guilty of any election offense shall be punished with imprisonment of not less than one year but not more than six years.

He or she is also denied the right to vote and is prohibited from entering public office.

A fine is imposed on any political party found guilty.

Even if there were no formal complaints, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it would act on incidents of vote-buying.

Comelec Commissioner George Garcia said the poll body would act based on reports from its field personnel who are conducting investigations into vote-buying incidents. — VBL, GMA News