OUR VOTE 2025 | REPORTER’S NOTES: Vote-buying through networking

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 12 May) – May 10, around 7 a.m., around a dozen people had gathered outside the residence of a barangay official. Each was bringing a small piece of paper.

“Pila nang gilista nimo (How many are in your list)?” someone who was standing by the gate asked a man in his 30s who had just arrived on board a motorcycle. “Five,” the latter replied. The gatekeeper signaled him to proceed inside.

After a while, another man came, also clutching a small paper. He was asked the same question. When he answered “nine,” the gatekeeper said, “Di na pwede, dapat lima ra gyud. Pangita didtog kauban nimo nga maoy modala anang sobra (That can’t be, it should only be five. Go find somebody you know who can vouch for the extra names).”

As they were talking, three women emerged from the house, holding thousand-peso bills in their hands without bothering to hide the money from the view of passersby.

I passed by the same house in the afternoon and saw the same thing happening, and heard the same conversation.

While walking on, I muttered to myself, “just like networking,” that vote-buying method that I just observed, feeling both amused and disgusted.

But what struck me more was the casualness of the whole thing.

For the parties involved, it was no different from a business transaction, the voters treating their vote as a commodity. It’s an open secret that has become accepted as “normal,” something that is no longer considered a cause for shame. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno / MindaNews)