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CHAIRMAN
Benjamin Abalos of the Commission on Elections on
Wednesday indicated that controversial Justice Secretary
Raul Gonzalez faces a Comelec inquiry for possibly
vote-buying after he offered a P10,000 bonus each to
Iloilo barangay leaders who can deliver zero votes for
opposition candidates in the May 14 senatorial
elections.
“We
cannot allow anybody to violate the law,” Chairman
Abalos told journalists at the Quijano de Manila media
forum at the Cherry Blossoms Hotel in Manila.
Abalos
hinted, though, that Gonzalez would be liable only if
the target of his inducements are voters, not ward
leaders. Malacañang took this tack also on Wednesday,
saying Gonzalez was using a campaign strategy.
Abalos
confirmed that he had already directed the poll body’s
law department to look into the potential vote-buying
case against Gonzalez to find out “kung may kasalanan
[if an offense was committed].”
“We want
to verify his [Gonzalez’s] exact statement,” Abalos
added, referring to the justice secretary’s reported
offer of a P10,000 bonus from his personal funds to any
barangay that would deliver a 12-0 administration sweep
of the senatorial polls in Gonzales’ district. “It might
have been said as an incentive to their leaders [and not
to pay off voters] . . . but anything that amounts to
vote-buying is illegal,” Abalos said.
He added
that if it were the latter case—paying for votes and not
as incentive to ward leaders—it would still be
prohibited even if the money would come, as Gonzalez had
claimed, from the Secretary’s personal funds.
According to Abalos, even just a promise of monetary
reward is illegal and could constitute a vote-buying
offense.
Gonzalez
has admitted that he offered the monetary reward to
barangay chairmen during a meeting at a restaurant in
Iloilo City to induce them to work for a 12-0 victory
for Team Unity senatorial candidates.
Senate
Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. earlier asked
Abalos to restrain Gonzalez from making good on his plan
to reward P10,000 to each of the 180 barangay chairmen
in Iloilo City as an incentive for delivering a 12-0
victory for Team Unity senatorial candidates.
Pimentel
protested that the monetary offer of Gonzalez was a
blatant act of vote-buying and bribery of voters in
gross violation of the Constitution and the Election
Code for which Gonzales can be liable for imprisonment
even if he claims that this will come from his personal
funds or whether the giving of the money materializes or
not.
Malacañang, however, defended the move of the justice
secretary, saying this was nothing but a “normal
political tactic” to push for administration candidates
in the senatorial race.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said in his weekly
news briefing that Gonzalez, of all Cabinet secretaries,
would know whether it is legal for him to promise
P10,000 to each of Iloilo’s 180 barangay officials in
exchange for a complete TU victory in their respective
areas.
“That is
an exercise of political leadership on the part of
Secretary Raul Gonzalez. Remember, the members of the
Cabinet are not prohibited from getting involved in
partisan politics because (they) are appointive
officials of the President who is the political leader
of the majority party. So I think we should not fault
SOJ for having said that because that is one way of
trying to get more support for administration
candidates,” Ermita said.
In his
case, Ermita said when he was running for Batangas
congressman, he would promise projects to be funded out
of his Countrywide Development Fund (CDF), and he
delivered them after he was elected.
--B. Fernandez, M. Gonzalez |
