WHILE the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Region 6 reported a flood of complaints on alleged vote-buying across Western Visayas, most were dismissed for lack of substantial evidence — underscoring not only the challenge of enforcement but a deeper decay in our electoral culture. Yes, the recent midterm elections have once again exposed an ugly truth that continues to haunt our democracy: vote-buying remains rampant, brazen, and disturbingly normalized.
Vote-buying is not merely a matter of criminality. It is a symptom of a political system mired in patronage and a society gripped by poverty. When candidates hand out money, goods, or favors in exchange for votes, they exploit the economic desperation of voters who, more often than not, are just trying to survive. For many, the P500 given on election day may be the only immediate relief from daily hunger. This is not democracy at work — it is democracy in chains.
What is more alarming is how this transactional mindset has become entrenched. Many voters no longer see elections as a chance to shape governance through principled choice but as an opportunity for short-term gain. And many politicians, in turn, treat campaigns as financial contests, investing in votes rather than earning them through platforms or performance.
The Comelec’s struggle to act on these reports is telling. It highlights how ill-equipped our institutions still are in tackling systemic vote-buying. Without witnesses willing to testify and without a political culture that condemns the practice, enforcement becomes nearly impossible. And the cycle continues.
To break this cycle, we must stop viewing vote-buying as an isolated electoral offense and start confronting it as a consequence of deeper structural problems: widespread poverty, low political literacy, and a weak culture of accountability.
The solution does not lie solely in catching offenders red-handed. It lies in long-term political education, especially among the youth and grassroots communities. Citizens must be taught the value of their vote — not as a commodity to be sold, but as a powerful tool to demand better governance. Schools, civil society groups, and media must step up and take this as a shared responsibility.
At the same time, electoral reform must go beyond reminders and resolutions. We need stronger mechanisms to protect whistleblowers, enhance digital evidence authentication, and penalize not only buyers but entire campaign structures that promote this illegal practice.
Until we address the root causes—poverty and patronage—vote-buying will persist, and with it, a democracy that continues to be sold cheap. The time to invest in real change is now, before another election comes and goes, leaving us with the same broken promises wrapped in crisp peso bills.
