The Vicious Cycle of Vote Buying and Vote-Selling

In Philippines’ politics, there are no permanent friends or foes - only permanent cost. Yes! Permanent cost: the root cause of corruption and fiefdom’s perpetration.


To run a decent election campaign, be it national or local, one would need an enormous wad of money flowing continuously. Apart from the election machinery, the cogs of which require an ample supply of grease to keep it moving, voters from Class D and E - those unemployed, hangers on, and sycophants – for them, election, is their chance to leech blood from politicians. Millions of them repeatedly troop to politicians and juiced them with such basics as; meals, burial expenses, bridges, artesian wells, basketball court and dole outs, for which politicians can’t say no, lest they can be construed as unsympathetic to people’s needs, and ground to loose their votes. Sorry to say, but politicians during election becomes a witting hostage. But soon after election, it’s payback time, because it’s the people now who will be hostage of the politician’s whims.

--->from the original piece in this site: http://www.philippinestoday.net/index.php?module=article&view=249

When will we ever learn?

siren

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