Seares: Unlawful election spending
Monday, March 22, 2010
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CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has been heavily spending on services and goods to attract voters: hospital and burial subsidies, bus rides, tents, medicines, sports shirts, cash gifts to seniors, the physically disabled, and high school graduates, judges' allowances, summer jobs, and, just recently, condoms.
Atan Guardo, Tomas's rival for south district House seat, calls it spending spree. It may be a binge already, as "spree" is uninhibited while "binge" is completely unrestrained.
The tougher question is whether it constitutes vote-buying.
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It's not a cash-for-vote swap. Money and goods are given away in the guise of helping the old, motivating the young, and filling the needs of the poor.
There's the color of regularity, which, however, can be washed away as ill motive is apparent in the timing and the target of spending.
But how to unmask disguised vote-buying before the Comelec and in court? Election regulators agree only on the futility of enforcing the law.
Dirty hands
Candidates who control government budgets set aside basic services in favor of direct dole-outs that tug at voters' heartstrings on voting day.
Desperate, Atan says of Tomas's alleged vote-shopping. That's empty noise if Atan can't whip up public outrage and convert it into votes.
It will be difficult. First, the public has become insensitive. Tomas admits his budget is political and most people don't wince or smirk.
Second, Atan uses private money for his giveaways while Tomas splurges with public money. But does anyone know for sure if the nature of the fund makes a difference to the voter who accepts it?
