Comelec disqualifies Quezon candidate for vote-buying

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The Comelec says the disqualification of Quezon congressional candidate Matt Erwin Florido is the 'first big' disqualification for vote-buying

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) 1st Division has disqualified Quezon province congressional candidate Matt Erwin Florido over an incident deemed by the poll body to have been vote-buying.

In a resolution promulgated on Wednesday, April 30, the Comelec 1st Division, composed of commissioners Aimee Ferolino, Ernesto Maceda Jr., and Maria Norina Tangaro-Casingal, granted a petition seeking to disqualify General Luna, Quezon Mayor Florido, who is running for Quezon 3rd district representative.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia said that this is the “first big” disqualification case for vote-buying.

According to the decision, there is “substantial evidence” that Florido committed vote-buying during an April 6 event. The five petitioners, who are registered voters and residents of Buenavista, Quezon, said that Florido’s representative Ricky Anyayahan invited them to a “gathering/orientation” Florido was hosting. They were not informed of the details or purpose of the gathering, but that food and transportation would be provided.

After the petitioners signed an attendance sheet and ate, Florido made a speech where he “explicitly campaigned and openly solicited votes” from the attendees.

Then, attendees received red campaign t-shirts and brown envelopes with P1,000 bills inside. After the distribution, Florido approached them and shook their hands.

Florido tried to discredit the petition by saying that the petitioners were not just voters, but his campaign volunteers who “freely and voluntarily undertook to conduct ground campaign for and in his behalf, without expectation of payment or remuneration.”

He said that the April 6 “orientation” was just an internal event for campaign staff and volunteers, and that the petitioners have publicly expressed their support for him.

Florido also denied buying votes, and that the P1,000-bills he gave to the petitioners were just cash advances used in their operating expenses. The t-shirt, meanwhile, was the “official uniform” of the accredited volunteers and was not publicly given away.

But the Comelec division did not accept this defense. Some of the petitioners were only invited on the day of the gathering itself. One of Florido’s own witnesses said during investigation that the meal given to the petitioners were the volunteers’ leftover lunch.

“Clearly, petitioners are not part of the circle of the volunteers. They were not members of the group chat exclusive to the volunteers, were excluded in the provisioning of meals, and were treated as mere participants,” the decision reads.

The division also found that the t-shirts distributed and P1,000-“cash advances” were not documented. They said it was “unbelievable” for an organization that thrives on donations to fail to account the release of funds, or at least record the recipients of the cash advances.

“We are convinced that these material considerations were given by [Florido] through the volunteers purposely to seek Petitioners’ support and votes,” the division said.

Ahead of the release of the resolution, Garcia told reporters said that it was a testament that the commission was determined to stop vote-buying past issuing mere show cause orders.

“Maaaring subject ‘yan sa motion for reconsideration, oo. Pero siyempre ang importante, gumugulong ng proseso, katulad ng ating commitment na hanggat maaari magre-resolve ang Comelec ng mga kasong disqualification… bago man lang mag-eleksyon,” said Garcia.

(That may be subject to a motion for reconsideration, yes. But what’s important is that our processes are moving, and as much as possible, the Comelec will resolve disqualification cases before election day.) – Rappler.com