May 10, 2019
CEBU CITY – In support of President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to
have a clean mid-term election on Monday (May 13), the Philippine National
Police (PNP) in Central Visayas on Friday said it will take citizen’s
complaints against vote buying and vote selling seriously.
 |
| Regional Office (PRO)-7 (Central Visayas) Director Brig. Gen.Debold Sinas (Photo by John Rey Saadvedra) |
Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas, regional director of the Police Regional
Office (PRO)-7 (Central Visayas), issued a warning to politicians who will
resort to influencing the outcome of the mid-term polls through vote buying,
that the police will press charges if they will get caught buying votes.
The campaign against vote buying and vote selling will become
successful only if the citizens will cooperate with the police, said Sinas in a
press briefing at the PRO-7 headquarters in Camp Sergio Osmeña Sr. here.
“If karon magreklamo ka naay vote buying (If you complain now that
there’s vote buying), you have to present facts and evidence and you should
tell who’s doing it),” he said.
The charges of vote buying will only prosper if somebody would
provide formal statement and file a case, he said.
“Di puede magreklamo may vote buying unya di mo-estorya kinsa, kay
kung puro nalang reklamo, mahurot among oras ka-verify tapos wa na kami maabtan
didto (It’s not acceptable if one would just complain that there’s vote buying
but won’t tell who, because if all are just tales, the police would waste time
verifying but would find nothing there),” Sinas said.
The police in the region is active in informing both the
candidates and electorate of the intention of President Duterte to have an
election that cannot be influenced by money.
Last May 1, the Bohol Provincial Police Office headed by Col.
Juluis Cesar Gornez participated in a province-wide caravan to educate the
Boholanos about the President’s wish that vote buying and vote selling would be
lessened, if not totally eradicated.
Sinas also said they will strictly enforce ordinances such as
curfew and anti-vagrancy in order to avoid “groupings” on the eve of elections
for the purpose of collecting money from politicians.
Sinas said motorcycles-for-hire in the Poblacion or city center up
to the mountain barangays will also be subjected to strict inspections at
police checkpoints to prevent them from being used as distributors of money for
vote buying.
Public vehicles that are out of bound will also be checked to
avoid ferrying of voters, he said.
The PRO-7 chief, however, discouraged citizen’s arrest against a
person who will get caught buying votes, in order to avoid trouble.
“Citizen’s arrest depends on the situation. You may arrest (those
who will be involved in vote buying), but you still have to bring him to the
police station," he said. (PNA)
