Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma’s appeal to the Cebuano electorate to vote according to their conscience came amid reports of new and old tricks being employed by the incumbent and the opposition in order to influence voters six days before election day.
In Cebu City for one, the Barug Team Rama called for a temporary suspension of the allocation of seniors cash aid and the hiring of City Hall employees for the electoral board and election canvassers in the May 14 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.
While the cash aid suspension is debatable considering that the funds come from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it is looking into the hiring of City Hall employees for the election canvassing duties in order to avoid any suspicions of irregularities.
The cash aid allocation afforded the administration candidates an opportunity to be present during the distribution and to claim credit for it despite it being a national government program.
Seniors being the target recipients, would they be able to or even bother to distinguish between the actual givers and the credit grabbers?
The same can be said of the Comelec’s recent disclosure that barangay and SK candidates can campaign to their hearts’ content on Facebook and other social media since election laws didn’t impose any limits on online content.
This is quite bothersome but hardly unexpected, since most of the incumbent officials in the local and national level owe much of their success to their online campaign offensives and to place restrictions on them now would not only be debatable but also pose serious challenges in court should candidates take it that far.
Given that backdrop, Palma’s appeal for the electorate to discern wisely in choosing their barangay and SK officials gain more significance. But this advice may fall flat before the presence of money offered by candidates during the campaign period and even on election day itself.
Yes, when online campaigning and cash aid fails, trust the pocket money shelled out by the candidates to do wonders for their election chances. A cynical view to be sure but past elections have seen how voters can be turned with a few pesos in their hands.
Still, there is hope that the electorate will be mindful of whom they choose and no amount of money, favors or deception on the part of unscrupulous candidates will change their mind.
In fact, we’re hoping that the voters do a number on these exploitative candidates and hand them a resounding rejection on election day.