Vote-buying, fake news biggest election problems; transmission not an issue —Comelec's Guanzon

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Rowena Guanzon said the same problems of vote-buying and spread of fake news could hound the national elections in May 2022, expressing her wish that these would be eradicated.

“As usual, the big problem is vote-buying.  That is the plague of our elections, because when you have vote-buying, you do not really know the true will of the people,” she said on The Mangahas Interviews.

“’Yan talaga ang pet peeve ko, vote buying, tsaka fake news syempre.  Misinformation really should be a crime during elections, kasi a lot of people depend on these news when choosing a candidate, yun pala fake,” the fiery commissioner said.

She added, “Iyon lang ang wish ko, sana wala na ‘yang dalawang ‘yan – vote buying tsaka fake news.”

Guanzon warned political candidates not to be a victim of individuals promising to manipulate the automated election results in exchange for money.

“’Wag kayong maniwala sa nagbebenta na kaya naming palitan ang SIM card.  Good luck sa inyo, good luck,” she said.

“Iyang transmission inaral ko ‘yan.  Pag transmit mo, in less than three seconds, magsasara yun, pa’no mo mapapalitan.  “Wag kayong magpaloko sa mga ‘yan, swindler yan,” she said, adding that Comelec has removed an employee caught peddling such illegal service to candidates.

Guanzon acknowledged that both vote-buying and vote-selling are crimes, but said it was difficult to catch the perpetrators in action,

“Hindi naman natin mahuhuli.  Ang maganda, sila ang maghulihan. . . to serve a lesson,” referring to rival candidates.

Guanzon also called for the strict implementation of firearms ban during the election season to prevent election-related violence.

"Violence dapat talaga police natin ang [in charge]." she said.

"Ang may violence lang naman kung 'yung kandidato may weapons, eh kung ipatupad ang firearms ban eh di maganda," she added.—LDF, GMA News