THE Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) chapter in Pangasinan appealed to voters not to sell their votes and not to accept money even if there is no imposition on who to vote for.

Marlo Artacho, PPRCV media officer, revealed reports that some candidates in many towns have been known offering as much as P3K to P5k per voter for their votes but nobody is bold enough to file  a formal complaint with evidence showing a voter getting cash from the candidate.

He said  distributing groceries to voters is also a form of vote-buying.

He stressed that vote-buying breeds corruption and corruption is the root cause of mass poverty. “It is a vicious cycle that must be stopped now,” he said.

However, the Commission on Elections in Dagupan City said it can only act on complaint of vote-buying and selling if the complaint filed is verified or notarized.

In the same forum, P/ Lt. Colonel Ferdinand De Asis, police deputy director for operation, said the provincial police has not received a formal complaint against any candidate for vote-buying.

Meanwhile, PPCRV will field some 12,000 volunteers across the province on May 9 to help ensure the conduct of clean, honest, free and peaceful elections.

On poll monitoring, he said the PPCRV is entitled to get one of the eight copies of the election returns for pre-transmission and one copy of the 22 copies being printed from the election precincts before these can even be transmitted.

“There, we can see if there is any discrepancy that need to be corrected even before these can be transmitted.  Alam naman natin na matalino ang ilang mga Pilipino lalo sa pandaraya,” Artacho said.

At the same time, the PCCRV is authorized to conduct a parallel count of the votes for the president down to councilors and will only stop its operations till after the winners are officially proclaimed locally,” he added.

Meanwhile, Janice Hebron, PPCRV Coordinator for Lingayen-Dagupan, also a member of PPCRV National Board of Trustees, admitted that there are some parishes still preparing for the big event on Monday.

She said volunteers will be deployed to their hometowns, as familiarization will be important in monitoring voters and clustered precincts while other volunteers will be assigned to voters’ assistance desks, to help voters find their precincts, assist persons with disabilities (PWDs), while as others monitor developments from PPCRV’s headquarters in Saint John Cathedral, tallying election returns.  (Leonardo Micua/Ahikam Pasion)

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