Mindanaotoday.com | No ‘vote-buying’ in NorMin: PNP-10
By Franck Dick Rosete
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – No incidence of vote-buying has been reported in Northern Mindanao during the conduct of the national and local elections on May 9, the Police Regional Office-10 (PRO-10) said Wednesday, May 11.
Lt. Col. Michelle Olaivar, PRO-10 spokesperson, in an interview, however, said they received a total of nine reports of alleged vote-buying incidents but it turned out negative upon verification.
All of the received reports, Olaivar said, were from Misamis Occidental province, particularly in Aloran town and the cities of Ozamiz and Oroquieta.
“Together with the military troops, we responded to all of the reports that we received, especially if it is an election-related concern. All of these nine reports of alleged vote-buying were negative after we conducted a verification,” Olaivar said.
According to the Omnibus Election Code, vote-buying and vote-selling refer to any person who gives or promises money or anything of value in order to induce anyone or the public in general to vote for or against any candidate or withhold his vote in the election.
It also refers to any person who gives or promises any office or employment; makes or offers to make a direct or indirect expenditure or cause an expenditure to be made to any person, association, corporation, entity, or community.
Olaivar stressed vote-buying can be hard to determine, unless the person involved in the transaction were the one to file the complaint.
It can be recalled the PRO-10 had created a regional special watch team to monitor vote-buying and vote-selling as part of the Kontra Bigay Task Force, together with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and other line agencies in line to national and local elections.
Meanwhile, in maintaining the peaceful election, the police spokesperson said the local and national election 2022 in region 10 has been generally peaceful despite the commotion that was reported in Munai town in Lanao del Norte.
“We received reports that there was a commotion in Munai, Lanao del Norte. However, the government forces immediately responded to that incident and that commotion did not affect the people who were continuously voting that time,” Olaivar said.
“We received a complaint that there was a power interruption, there were VCMs (vote-counting machines) malfunctioning, however, the technical people, deployed by the Comelec were there and they immediately addressed the concern,” she added.
Olaivar thanked the public’s cooperation by partnering to the law enforcement in achieving the peaceful election in the Northern Mindanao region.
On the other hand, Brig. Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr., PRO-10 director, expressed his gratitude to the collaborative effort from the different law enforcement agencies who responded to the reported incidents.
“I am very grateful to everyone who was instrumental in the peaceful elections, to the AFP, Coast Guard, other agencies, to the Comelec and especially to the community for we were able to respond to any incidents they had reported,” Acorda said.