Liberal Party (LP) candidate Mar Roxas is facing several accusations of vote buying.
This is despite Roxas’s insistence that his name and reputation in government is still free from graft and corruption.
Both accusations call out Roxas for allegedly using government funds to secure votes in the upcoming presidential elections.
Roxas is party-mates with President Noynoy Aquino.
The first accusation comes from Rodrigo Duterte, another presidential candidate.
Peter Laviña, Duterte’s spokesperson, said in a statement that Roxas is using bottom-up budgeting (BUB) to buy the votes at the grassroots level.
“Now we see a process with millions of government money being used as a ruse into voting for Roxas.
“BUB is officially a campaign kitty of the administration bet,” said Laviña.
Through BUB, the national budget is allotted based on the needs of the smallest government units, like the barangay, instead of the usual approach where the top officials decide where funds should go.
BUB is a pet project by Roxas when he was the head of the Department of Interior an Local Government. Roxas has also announced in several campaign sorties that he plans on expanding BUB when he is elected President.
In a speech in Parañaque City last month, he said “Ang bilang ng Pilipino ngayon, 100 million na tao.
“Nakita ko, pinag-aralan ko, kinalkula ko, hinanap ko ang pera sa budget, at nakita ko na, nasagot ko na itong lahat.
“One hundred million people times P1,000 is P100 billion.
“'Yang halagang 'yan, kukunin natin sa budget 'yang P100 billion na 'yan, at ipapamahagi natin 'yan sa BUB process sa lahat ng bayan sa ating bansa.”
Thus, Duterte’s camp is calling the BUB Roxas and LP’s “campaign kitty.”
“Clearly, the administration bet is resorting to bribery, offering money to local chief executives in the hope of winning their support,” Laviña added.
CCT VOTE-BUYING. Another accusation against Roxas comes from the youth group Anakbayan.
In a statement last Tuesday, March 1, Anakbayan criticized the Aquino government of using the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) for “legalized vote buying.”
The CCT is another landmark program of the current administration, under the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Through CCT, poor families across the country is given a monthly cash subsidy.
Two types of cash grants are available: a health grant of P500 per family, or an education grant of P300 per child, for up to three children.
For 2016, the government is allocating P64 billion to the 4Ps, more than half of the DSWD’s P110.8 billion budget.
Anakbayan chairman Vencer Crisostomo said the Aquino government is telling current CCT beneficiaries that they will stop receiving the dole-outs if Roxas does not win the elections.
“The CCTs is being used by the Aquino government to buy votes and get support of local government for the Roxas campaign.
“4Ps assemblies have been transformed into election sorties where beneficiaries are threatened with the slashing of doleouts if Roxas doesn’t win the presidency,” said Cristostomo.