By Hilda Austria/Philippine News Agency
MALASIQUI, Pangasinan — The Pangasinan police with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Commission on Elections (Comelec), and non-government organizations have joined together to fight vote buying through the launching of ASIN-ILAW (Ang Suhol Iwaksi Natin- Itaguyod Ligal At Wasto) movement.
The ASIN-ILAW movement is founded by the Holistic Mission Ministries Foundation Inc., which is aimed at a non-partisan and non-political campaign that will promote a call for careful scrutiny of the candidates in the election period and proactively reject bribery in any form.
“Every election, there is an issue of vote buying, that’s why, the Philippine National Police (PNP) partnered with ASIN Movement to urge voters to choose worthy candidates and to reject bribes,” Lt. Col. Joseph Fajardo, officer-in-charge of Malasiqui Police Station, said in an interview Wednesday.
The ASIN-ILAW Movement was launched simultaneously province-wide on Wednesday, five days before the mid-term polls when vote-buying reports are already prevalent.
Fajardo reminded the candidates and voters alike that vote buying is against the law under the Omnibus Election Code, and the PNP will implement the law.
“Our call is not just for the voters to accept whatever the candidates will give and vote whoever they want, instead, our call is for the voters to totally refuse goods or cash given by any candidate during elections,” he said.
DILG municipal officer Johanna Montoya of this town told the candidates to observe honest and clean elections and to answer the challenge to become trustworthy and good leaders if they are elected.
In Malasiqui, some 200 participants, including non-government organizations such as Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, evangelical churches, and election candidates, joined the launching with a unity walk.
In his speech during the launching at the Pangasinan Police Provincial Office in Lingayen, Comelec provincial election supervisor lawyer Ericson Oganiza confirmed the prevalence of the different forms of vote buying in some parts of the country and in the province attested by reports to the Pangasinan police.
He also refuted the accusations against Comelec and Pangasinan police of their alleged non-action to vote-buying reports in the province.
“What they are saying is not true as we are just waiting for the formal complaint so they should not say we are not doing anything about vote-buying. We cannot just disperse people or enter an area (where alleged vote-buying is taking place), that we have no authority and we follow procedures. What we are doing is the legal process. The PNP collecting evidence and there will be a preliminary investigation and then the case will be filed with the court,” Oganiza explained.
Though this movement will not totally eradicate the vote buying, he encouraged the participants to continue hoping that this kind of illegal activity will soon stop.
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