By Steffi De Chavez & Pilar Toribio

On October 24, a Facebook post was uploaded by blogger William C. Ubagan that accused presidential aspirant and incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo of vote-buying. The post has currently garnered 18 reacts and 24 comments and 54 shares. The image was then posted by a netizen on TikTok with the account name xyz.ken, but had been recently taken down. On Sunday, Robredo’s spokesperson Barry Gutierrez clarified that the claims were false through a tweet.

“Happy Sunday! Happy post-Caravan day din. Sa sobrang solid kahapon, umagang-umaga may nakarating sa aming ganitong pics. Fake news nanaman. Asahan natin ang ganitong paninira habang lumalakas at dumadami tayo,” Gutierrez said. 

As similar accusations began to spread through Facebook and private group chats, senatorial candidate Teddy Baguilat Jr. defended Team Robredo Pangilinan (TROPA) through a tweet.

“Paninira moves. Di nanggaling sa TROPA yan ha. Di mamimili ng boto ang #Kakampinks. Gusto namin palitan ang bulok na sistema ng pamumulitika tulad ng vote-buying. Yan ang pangako ni Leni sa taumbayan,” Baguilat said.

“Tanggapin ang pera, pero iboto (ang) sa konsensiya”

On October 26, Robredo was asked for advice in a virtual meeting with Filipino domestic workers about what they should do when they encounter vote-buying. 

Robredo, while saying she remained firm against the act of bribery in general, told voters to take the more pragmatic approach of accepting the money from politicians but vote according to their conscience. 

In the meeting she said, “Tanggapin ang pera, pero iboto (ang) sa konsensiya.”

As she recalled her experiences back in 2013 when she was still running for congress in Camarines Sur, she highlighted just how common vote-buying actually is. 

“Magiging honest ako sa inyo, ha? Kasi nung nag-run ako for congressman, grabe yung bilihan ng boto sa amin. Alam mo, mali siya—mali yung pagbili ng boto. Pero yung sinasabi ko sa tao, tanggapin niyo. Yung pinangbibili ng boto, pera din yan ng taumbayan,” Robredo stated.  

On May 9, 2013, Robredo had filed a vote-buying complaint against former Camarines Sur representative Luis Villafuerte and his wife during the congressional race. Two days after the report was submitted, three (3) witnesses came forward with additional affidavits against candidates belonging to the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) for distributing “diplomas” that contained Php 300 in cash, a membership card to the NPC, and a sample ballot.

Despite her best efforts, Robredo has said that it was extremely difficult to hold politicians who engaged in vote-buying accountable for their actions.

Vote-buying remain claims rampant as 2022 nat’l elections approach

Amid the current election season, similar allegations have continued to target TROPA. On October 24, another tweet claimed Robredo’s campaign team engaged in vote-buying during a Caravan event it hosted. As of writing, the post has garnered 61 retweets and 263 likes, and continues to circulate on other social media platforms. 

The legitimacy of these remarks have also been denied by one of Robredo’s support groups, “Dapat si Leni”.

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