Lawyer Connie Veneracion (at http://www.sassylawyer.com ) has an interesting post on vote-buying, and other practices that make elections in this country, well, a farce (my word). I posted a comment on her blog, here it is:
I think the Comelec’s (and some election lawyers’) application of it is literal, you have to catch the person handing the money/ making the promise, in exchange for a vote; if it’s just payment for the work of campaigning, hauling voters, distributing sample ballots, some Comelec people don’t consider it vote-buying; I don’t necessarily agree with this kind of application because it’s too literal and dumb (on the other hand, some might lawyers might say, strictissimi juris (did I spell that right?) because it has penal sanctions. Anyway. If a candidate gives out insurance cards in a rally where he speaks and asks people to vote for him, of course, that’s vote-buying (for me anyway), he doesn’t have to do those overt acts all at the same time: the context of the dole-out is his campaign to get voted, and being done in a campaign rally or in the middle of a campaign, it’s quite obvious the objective is to induce people to vote for him. Obvious ba.. But some Comelec commissioners might not think so. It’s like prostitution (gosh, this is an awful analogy, some provisions in the Revised Penal Code should be reviewed/ repealed, etc.), anyway, it’s next to impossible to prove the elements of prostitution (soliciting money in exchange for sexual intercourse) so, those poor young women on Quezon Av are hauled away and charged for vagrancy, and abused in jail.
Anyway. It’s always stimulating to read your posts. They make me think, and look again. Regards!
(that’s the comment I submitted, italicized paragraphs).
Discover more from marichulambino.com
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
