Police vow to stop vote-buying in barangay polls

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines  - - Police forces vowed to support the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in strictly enforcing election laws to stop vote-buying incidents in the region in the forthcoming barangay, an official said.

Police Regional director Chief Superintendent Juanito Vaño has directed all his field police commanders to actively pursue criminal charges against those persons found to be involved in the vote-buying scheme.

Vaño also ordered the police forces to pursue and charge those individuals who try to prevent or harass voters from casting their votes on the election day.

He said the police commanders have to step up their efforts in looking for witnessesn and gathering  pieces of evidence, such as preservation of the money used in vote-buying, to ensure the conviction of those involved in poll fraud.

“Vote-buying would adversely affect the electoral mandate as the candidates have no more alternatives in order to win but to go to their voters to offer them money in exchange for their votes,” Vaño said as he noted that in the previous election  a number of poll fraud incidents were reported in the region.

The police director appealed to the public to help the authorities in providing information that will lead the arrest of individuals engaged in vote-buying scheme. - Roel Pareño