00:00Under the Omnibus Election Code, money laundering is considered a crime or anything that is valuable in exchange for a vote.
00:08Find out more details about vote buying in the story of Floyd Brentz.
00:16Three days before the campaign period for the May 12 elections started,
00:20the Commission on Elections, or COMELEC,
00:23asked voters not to sell their votes and not to support candidates involved in vote buying.
00:30At the launch of the Committee on Contrabigay in Manila on Friday,
00:34COMELEC Chairman George Erwin Garcia said that it is up to the voters themselves to stop this act.
00:42According to Garcia, there is no point in fighting vote buying if it will continue to grow.
00:49It is enough for us to put our own people in jail for a few hours.
00:54They can file a bail. It's okay for us.
00:57But the important thing is that if it is a warrantless arrest, there is a procedure.
01:03Garcia insisted that those who buy votes will not succeed if they do not receive money.
01:08He also reminded that under the Omnibus Election Code, money laundering is considered a crime or anything that is valuable in exchange for a vote.
01:18And it is not only vote buying that is being monitored,
01:20but also vote selling or the distribution of votes or not voting for a candidate in exchange for money.
01:27COMELEC also added that voters should be considered to insult them for buying their votes
01:34and that politicians should not use their situation and poverty in life.
01:40Floyd Brents for Pambansang TV in Bagong, Philippines.