Vote for Sale

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What is the value of a person's vote?

Recently, my aunt returned home from the market carrying a small shoulder bag adorned with the image of a candidate for barangay chairman (note: she is not a registered voter in the specific barangay where this candidate is running). Inside the bag, she had a few sample ballots, two cigarette lighters with stickers displaying the name of a barangay council candidate, and a small envelope. Inside the envelope were two one-hundred peso bills. This incident occurred just one day before the barangay elections.

Let's break down the estimated costs: the bag and its print approximately cost 100 pesos, printing the sample ballots would be around 1 peso per piece (20 pieces in the bag), the lighters and stickers come to about 15 pesos each, and the small envelope itself is valued at 1 peso, and there were 200 pesos inside the envelope. In total, that amounts to 351 pesos per person. That's three hundred and fifty-one pesos taken from the candidate's own pocket and given to an individual in exchange for the expectation that they will vote for that candidate.

Now, I can't help but wonder: why would someone spend such a significant amount of money just for a vote? I highly doubt that their true intention is to serve the public. It seems more likely that they invest so heavily because they anticipate making much larger gains in return. They are transforming politics into a corrupt business.


Phot Credit: http://www.untvweb.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/IMAGE_UNTV-News_APRIL242013_COMELEC_2013-ELECTION_VOTE-BUYING.jpg

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