Arrest Gonzales, Abalos & the rest of the 07 Election Jokers!

In an Inquirer breaking news Comelec Regional Director Renato Magbutay was quoted as saying:

The giving of money is prohibited in the campaign period especially by candidates to officials or supporters. That is considered vote-buying," Comelec Regional Director Renato Magbutay said in a telephone interview.

Magbutay said, however, that the poll body cannot act to determine if Gonzalez violated any election law if there is no formal complaint and no witness comes forward to execute an affidavit.

Magbutay pointed out that while Gonzalez is not a candidate, his son and namesake Raul Gonzalez Jr. is running for re-election as congressman of the city.

What a joke a cruel one at that and here I am so elated at the news that Comelec is now seriously doing their job with such “bold” statement only to take it back like a yoyo. Boy was I wrong. What is this guy thinking or what’s the point of yakity yak in the press when he can’t even back up his stand on the illegality of the injustice secretary’s OFFER?

Is he joking or is he a joker is an apt question on this untouchable constitutional body making a mockery of the people’s right to choose as if all this exercise is just a game. A game of fools I might say where the people are played by players of the inutile and incompetent ones.

Por dios por santo que barbaridad the provision is very clear and any which way you look at it points to the culpability of Gonzales, to quote:

Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code states that a person is guilty of vote-buying or vote-selling if the person "gives, offers or promises money or anything of value, gives or promises any office or employment, franchise or grant, public or private, or makes or offers to make an expenditure, directly or indirectly, or cause an expenditure to be made to any person, association, corporation, entity, or community in order to induce anyone or the public in general to vote for or against any candidate or withhold his vote in the election, or to vote for or against any aspirant for the nomination or choice of a candidate in a convention or similar selection process of a political party."

P10K per burangay captain to be exact is the OFFER so in the depreciated peso of this (appreciated peso daw according to the lady who cheats errr seats by the murky Pasig River) Cheating Republic it’s probably worthless, the “OFFER OF VALUE” therefore does not count? Any right thinking individual will see this clearly and why are we not doing something about this brazen arrogance abusing their cheat errr seat of office, idiotizing (to borrow Mr. take no prisoner Abaya’s term) the people in the process?

How about Abalos proudly announcing in printed madaya errr media his big brother’s accomplishment and seeing “nothing” wrong in his "nomination" as the tricycle drivers “advocate” is just pathetic. How about Borra did you not say you will prosecute those announcing the names of the nominees? Shame on these people the “violation” is right under their very noses and they seem to get blinded by their arrogance. Arrest Abalos Borra, or is this just another hollow stance of grandstanding like a clown act in a Comelect that's more like a circus? How about the fixers are you also waiting for some "witness" to come out before you conduct an investigation? Heck who in the name of kurdapya will volunteer to be a witness? After seeing what happened to Acsa Ramirez a witness turned suspect by no less than the cheat errr chief of state, do they think people will be that motivated to come out? Oh, yeah besides they are so busy in this election so what's the rush, they are soooo "overworked", we may be be expecting too much.

Just in case Borra is true to his word that is if they even have a clue what they are bragging about he should order the arrest of Dante Ang too the godfather of the Confederation of Mothers with his dear baby boy Klink as the nominee.

Going back to the callous injustice secretary herewith is his incriminating interview over the phone:

Justice Secretary Gonzalez has offered P10,000 to each of the 180 village captains of Iloilo City or a total of P1.8 million if all TEAM Unity candidates win in their villages.

Gonzalez, a staunch ally of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, confirmed that he made the offer during a meeting with the village captains in a restaurant here last Sunday.

"It's a prize if they will work for the sweep," Gonzalez told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a telephone interview.

So is he telling us that Section 261does not apply in his case and in the absence of the act of giving, he can announce to the whole world his offer and suffer no consequence for it? The law specifically stated OFFER so what’s the deal, what are the math geniuses waiting for? Now I know when this guy goes into private practice not to use or recommend the man he seems to have some comprehension problem in interpreting the meaning of OFFER which he says is a “PRIZE” hesumalosep no matter how you twist it, that is still a violation. So what are the people paying them for if they can’t even arrest blatant transgression of this magnitude? Or is it because as some some numb nut would say, someone needs to execute an affidavit. Well guess what, diligent authorities will not wait like Juan Tanga errrr Tamad for the fruit to fall but order police agencies to investigate and seek out witnesses to build a case. Duh, getting dumber and dumber, let's get rid of these people …… vote them out of office. Hit them where it hurts the most don’t let any of the administratong backed local candidates win. Let’s look for local leaders of integrity support the likes of Fr. Ed Panlilio, Martin Bautista, Zosimo Paredes, Adrian Sison and seek out those who will bring back sanity in our political office.
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UPDATE: 2:44 PM 4/25/07

Looks like Abalos is getting it and finally orders law enforcement agencies to conduct an investigation regarding Gonzales' offer of P10K to Barangay captains as reported in the latest breaking news of Inquirer. Let’s hope it’s not just in the papers but actual investigation is conducted and appropriate charges filed. Abalos was quoted as saying:

MANILA, Philippines -- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) directed its law department on Wednesday to investigate if Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez violated election laws when he said he would award P10,000 to each village captain in Iloilo City who would deliver a TEAM Unity sweep in the May midterm elections.

The Comelec might even invite the controversial Cabinet secretary for "questioning."

"We want to get his exact statement so we might invite him for questioning," Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos, Sr. said in a press conference in Manila.

Abalos explained that "anything equivalent to vote buying is illegal."

"In vote buying, even a promise by itself is already illegal," Abalos said.

Finally they seem to interpret the law accordingly that an offer is in itself illegal, but then again he seems to exonerate himself with this statement:

He said that people with "political positions" were not barred from expressing support for candidates as long as they would not make promises to the electorate or use even their "personal money," in exchange for votes.

Maybe if we see some seriousness in the overseeing of the electoral process and they themselves abide by it they may fish out their credibility out of the toilet. Welcome to the real world of Philippine politics where hypocrisy rules. How convenient, he knows that he himself endorsed his big brother thus there's nothing "wrong" for people of "political position" to act like him. His is worse because he is the head of "neutral" body overseeing the electoral contest itself.

In a subsequent interview, Abalos told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that after seeing Wednesday's newspaper reports on Gonzalez's statements, he directed the law department to conduct an investigation.

"Apparently he made an offer and he was quoted in the newspapers. We no longer need a complaint to be filed before us. Kung ganun nga ang ginawa niya [If that’s what he really did] as reported in the newspapers, if it were true, he might be liable," Abalos said in a phone interview.

But then again I should not complain at least they are headed in the right direction as far as Gonzales is concerned but it could be better……. arrest yourself too Mr. Abalos.

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