According to a police spokesman, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Police General Dionardo Carlos has urged his officers to act on accusations of potential vote-buying in their districts.
PNP Director for Operations Police Major General Valeriano de Leon claimed during a press conference that certain cops, commanders, and even election candidates had reported alleged vote-buying events.
“We have been receiving several reports from our subordinates, commanders, and the candidates themselves and intelligence communities are conducting validation on this,” De Leon said.
“In fact, the Chief PNP has given instruction to all commanders down to the police stations to conduct appropriate police actions in coordination with the Commission on Elections,” he added.
When asked how many reports the police had received so far, De Leon stated that the PNP has yet to aggregate them.
The PNP is one of the member agencies of the Commission on Elections’ task force against vote-buying, or Task Force Kontra Bigay.
TF Konta Bigay is expected to act on its own initiative and respond to formal allegations about vote-buying.
Any individual found guilty of an election violation under the Omnibus Election Code faces a sentence of not less than one year but not more than six years in jail.
PNP to probe alleged vote-buying incidents
In addition, those found guilty will lose their right to vote and will be barred from running for public office, and any political party found guilty of vote-buying will be penalized.
Meanwhile, the PNP will investigate any claims of sabotage of the May 9 elections, as four presidential candidates have claimed.
“We’ll get the details from Senator Lacson para matignan namin [so we can look into it],” Carlos said.
“So far I have here, si [Police Major General Valeriano de Leon], he’s monitoring for the elections. Wala naman tayong major reports of ganun [We haven’t received such major reports),” he added.
During a joint press conference on Sunday, Lacson and other presidential candidates Manila Mayor Isko Moreno and former National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales warned of a possible plot to destabilize the May 9 polls.
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