Comelec chief chided for encouraging voters to accept money

ACCEPTING money from a politician, even if the receiver does not vote for him will still constitute a bribe and vote buying, a Church-based election group said.

Dilaab Foundation’s Circles of Discernment for Empowerment slammed Comelec Chief Sixto Brillantes for apparently encouraging voters to accept money given them by politicians as long as they don’t vote for the giver.

Brillantes’ pronouncement that goes: “Accept anything that is given to you, but don’t vote for the one who gave the money. Maybe that should be the rule,” met with strong criticisms from the group saying the statement sends conflicting messages with regards to vote buying.

“By encouraging such behaviour, [Brillantes] actually seriously compromises sec. 261a of the Omnibus Election Code (i.e. “prohibited acts – vote-buying and vote-selling”). This promotes tolerance for and condoning of bribery by encouraging voters to be bribed in exercising their constitutional right to vote, regardless of the intention of the pronouncement,” Dilaab said in a strongly-worded statement.

The declaration from the Comelec chief is “alarming and dangerous”, it said, as this “may encourage poll officials like canvassers, election inspectors, and COMELEC deputized law enforcers, who are targets of bribe money, to accept bribes from candidates as long as they do their duties.”

The group called on the Comelec chief to lead the charge in enforcing election laws and should be “the last to surrender – in its mission to ensure fair, honest and clean elections.”

But “how can this [honest election] happen when such pronouncement encourages voters to be corrupted and the candidates to corrupt the electorate? How can one make the “right choice” after committing a “wrongful and unlawful act”? This is twisting and distorting our people’s values,” the statement further read.

The group said it would be extremely difficult if not impossible for poll officials to do their job properly “under the influence of money.”

The idea of ‘getting the money but voting according to one’s conscience’ has been around during elections but has never eradicated the practice of vote buying, the group said.

Encouraging the voters to do the practice would mean giving themselves to the highest bidder, the group added.

As vote buying destroys the value of honesty and corrupts the voters, “a dishonest and corrupted electorate produces dishonest and corrupted government and leaders,” the group said.

“If we wish to have a better and honest government, let us start by ensuring a fair and honest electoral process and electorate,” Dilaab and its partners said, strongly urging Brillantes “not to surrender but to face the challenge with hope and courage that change can happen and evil can be overcome.” 

The group also called on Filipino voters to “reject vote-buying, bribery and corruption during elections, and to restore and uphold honesty in exercising our right of suffrage through freedom from bribery.” (CBCPNews)

Church group urges candidates to champion urban poor’s plight

One of the houses in Barangay Luz destroyed by demolition crews last year. (Contributed Photo)
 

A church group called on political candidates to champion the plight of the urban poor amidst ongoing demolition of their homes in Cebu City’s barangay Luz.

Fr. Vicente Dayao, convenor of Cebu City’s Archdiocesan Discernment Group (ADG) on Urban Poor said electoral candidates should demonstrate that their reason for running is not for personal gain “but to serve the people especially the poor.”

“Now is the time to do something to stop demolitions and all forms of human rights violations against the marginalized sectors!” he declared.

The discernment group—composed of priests, religious, and laity—lamented the ongoing demolition of urban poor’s houses which began April 10 in Sitio Lubi, Barangay Luz.

“Why are our poor brothers and sisters in Sitio Lubi, Barangay Luz, treated not as human beings who have the right to adequate shelter? When will our hearts of stone turn into hearts of flesh which beat of love and compassion for our neighbors,  especially the homeless and powerless?” the group asked in a press statement.

At the Election Summit held in Cebu City last February 23 this year, the urban poor presented the following agenda to summit participants, which include political candidates
“No to forced eviction and demolition. Yes to urban land reform. Implement on-site development of the urban poor communities in public and private lots.”

The city government began demolition of houses in Barangay Luz middle of last year despite appeal of poor households to appropriate the lots to them “so they could pay for these lots directly to the city government.”

Expropriation of lots would have averted the knocking down of houses, but the government proceeded with the destruction of 32 households.

Dayao lamented the government’s lack of concern on the plight of the urban poor despite the group’s appeal to expropriate the lots to them.

The group is holding a prayer service for the victims of demolition on April 15, 2013, 4:15 pm at the gate of St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Barangay Luz.

Dayao said assembly for participants will be at 4 pm at the CCTN Gate, urging concerned citizens to join and show their solidarity with the poor. (CBCPNews)

Pope calls for renewed lives among Christians

Pope Francis delivering his urbi et orbi message on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. (Photo from Vatican Radio  Facebook Page)

Pope Francis on Easter Sunday urged all Christians to allow themselves be transformed by the power of love of the Risen Jesus and become instruments of justice and peace in the world.

In the first urbi et orbi message of his pontificate, Pope Francis invited everyone to open their hearts to the grace of Christ’s resurrection and be renewed by his mercy.

“Let us be renewed by God’s mercy, let us be loved by Jesus, let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives too; and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish,” he said.

Saying it was a joy for him to announce the message of the resurrection, he exhorted the multitude of pilgrims gathered at St. Peter’s Square on Easter morning to proclaim the same message of hope “to every house and every family, especially where the suffering is greatest, in hospitals, in prisons …”

“Most of all, I would like it to enter every heart, for it is there that God wants to sow this Good News: Jesus is risen, there is hope for you, you are no longer in the power of sin, of evil! Love has triumphed, mercy has been victorious!”

The Holy Father urged everyone to pray for peace in the world, and “ask the risen Jesus, who turns death into life, to change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace.”

He prayed that peace may descend to countries torn by conflict and violence especially in the Middle East, in Africa and Asia

The pope prayed for end to the protracted conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, for peace in Iraq and for the people of Syria, who are “torn by conflict and for the many refugees who await help and comfort.”

He also prayed that unity and stability may again return in Mali, as well as in Nigeria where innocent people fall victims to violent attacks of terrorist groups.

Lamenting the loss of lives and displacement of families who are forced to leave their homes and lived as refugees in other countries due to violence, the pope prayed for peace especially in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Central African Republic.

He also prayed for the cessation of hostilities in the Korean peninsula that “may disagreements be overcome and a renewed spirit of reconciliation grow.”

Noting how humanity’s “greed” and “selfishness” brought so much division and unpeace in the world, the pope prayed for peace in the world “still divided by greed looking for easy gain, wounded by the selfishness which threatens human life and the family, selfishness that continues in human trafficking, the most extensive form of slavery in this twenty-first century.”

He prayed that peace may reign in the whole world, “torn apart by violence linked to drug trafficking and by the iniquitous exploitation of natural resources,” and that “the risen Jesus bring comfort to the victims of natural disasters and make us responsible guardians of creation.”

Pope Francis concluded his message by asking the pilgrims to take to their families and nations “the message of joy, of hope and peace” that Easter brings. (CBCPNews)