Money talks

SKETCHES

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

There's a joke going around about a voter who was made by barangay officials to sign up for either "5K o 8K." He picked — what else? "Syempre pinili ko 8K."

The punch line: "Fun run pala."

Pinoys know only too well that the joke refers to vote buying, which the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has warned becomes most rampant in these final days before election day.

Here's another viral joke, referring to the Department of Trade and Industry: "Breaking news: Next Monday's election has been placed under DTI instead of Comelec for price control."

Across the country, vote buying is in fact (to borrow an infamous quote) "no joke, no joke."

In my neck of the woods, supporters of a particular gang of candidates (they're a bunch of dynastic crooks, so I refer to them as a gang), who have previously tossed to residents campaign t-shirts, are now asking low-income folks for a photocopy of any of their government-issued IDs, which they must sign three times.

Since the government (including the Comelec) has also learned to use social media, even if belatedly, I know people who have refused. They have learned from their online feeds that something illegal could be afoot and they could land in jail for it.

The other day we got an inkling of what it was all about: a stub would be issued to the person, which would be attached to a "certificate of low-income" or indigent status, which would entitle the bearer to a payout of P3,000 from the barangay.