Issue Analysis No.7Series of 2007
Fraud, 2007
|
|
Fraud recycles the political dynasties and keeps them in power. It breeds generations of cheaters, corrupt politicians, mediocre executives, bribe takers, absenteeism in Congress. It is part of the lifeblood of bureaucrat capitalism.
By the Policy Study, Publication and Advocacy (PSPA)
Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
May 8, 2007
excerpt:
Last week, the Arroyo administration’s Team Unity (TU) and the Genuine Opposition (GO) traded charges and counter-charges in connection with the latest surveys showing that fraud particularly vote-buying will take place in the coming May 14 elections. Two public opinion surveys, conducted separately on March 18-23 and April 14-17 by the Social Weather Stations (SWS), revealed that 40 percent of Filipinos expect the government to cheat in the elections while 70 percent expected vote buying to take place in their areas. TU leaders dismissed the surveys, especially the first, as fabricated accusing SWS of selling out to the anti-Arroyo opposition.
The results of the surveys should not be a surprise at all considering that elections ever since this republic was born – or even before that – have always been marred by fraud. Fraud, such as vote buying, distributing sacks of money to local politicians and poll officials, dagdag-bawas (vote padding and shaving), ballot snatching, fabricating election returns (ERs) and certificates of canvass (CoCs), violence and other types, takes place in any election, on all levels and by both pro- and anti-administration candidates. More stinking, however, is that it is usually the incumbent administration that commits it with all audacity and impunity.
