Comelec: Villar scholarships constitute vote-buying

The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manuel Villar Jr. could be liable for vote-buying and disqualified from the presidential race for giving away scholarship grants, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Friday.

Speaking to reporters, Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said the Omnibus Election Code bans candidates from handing out “money or anything of value.”

“The fact that there are tuition fees that would be paid for or books, clothes and even miscellaneous expenses that would be covered… that is ‘money or anything of value’,” he said.

The act of giving away scholarship grants is tantamount to vote-buying, Sarmiento said.

The Omnibus Election Code defines vote-buying as “giving, offering or promising money or anything of value” to induce anyone to vote for or against any candidate.

Vote-buying is considered an election offense, which carries the penalty of one to six years imprisonment as well as the removal of the right to vote and be voted for.

Last Thursday, Villar’s camp gave out several scholarship grants to school children that attended a rock concert that they had organized at SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.

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