Judge, wife file complaint for vote-buying in IBP
MANILA, Philippines — A retired judge and his wife in Naga City have filed a vote-buying complaint before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) after they received “voter education” ID cards that they were told could be surrendered to barangay officials in exchange for P1,000 in cash.
In a joint affidavit submitted to the IBP and referred to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), former Naga Regional Trial Court Judge Soliman Santos Jr. and his wife, retired Ateneo de Naga University professor Paz Verdades Santos, said that the ID cards were sent to their house.
The cards bore their name, gender, birth date and polling precinct number, along with a blank space for a photo.
They said that at the top of the card were the words “Team One CamSur,” and at the bottom were the names of some politicians.
Upon consulting with their neighbors and a barangay official, the couple said they learned that the ID cards could be exchanged for cash payments of P1,000.
READ: PNP records 28 vote-buying incidents on Election Day
Close encounter
“We were both quite appalled about our foregoing narrated close encounter with another devious form of vote-buying, even as we admittedly did not actually witness the handing over of money. The several personal accounts by neighbors to Doods (Paz’s nickname) in particular and the narrated accompanying circumstances point to no other conclusion but vote-buying,” their complaint read.
The couple also raised concerns over a possible violation of data privacy laws, as the IDs contained their sensitive personal information.
“We hereby humbly ask the Comelec to please look into these ‘voters education ID’ cards, the brazen vote-buying night and day, and the scandalous election spending long before the official election campaign period,” they said.
“It is an insult and affront to us as Filipino citizens, and a portent of what these dirty politicians will do to destroy our country and people. There are so many posts and reels on social media about this, but not enough standing up to be counted in a legal action way against vote-buying,” the couple added. /cb
