Covenant binds parishioners not to sell their votes
Not all votes can be bought.
This is the message that the clergy of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage Parish in Iloilo City’s La Paz district want to impart in launching their “Peace Covenant” campaign.
Parish Priest Fr. Reynato Cuadras and Assistant Parish Priest Fr. Robert Amalay started the “Peace Covenant” campaign on April 11 that binds parishioners not to sell their votes this coming May 10 elections.
So far, Fr. Amalay said, more than 2,000 parishioners have signed the Covenant.
The Covenant states that each voting parishioner ‘Shall Not…’: 1) Be used as an instrument to sell or buy one’s vote; 2) Force or tempt influences of their own vote on other voters; 3) Be deprived the privilege with the Right to Vote; 4) Be part of any anomalies like cheating during election.
Every person who signs the Covenant receives an envelope with a red “X” marked with the words “Not for Sale.”
“Once those envelopes are posted on the doors and gates [of their homes], it visibly communicates that they are part of the Covenant,” said Fr. Amalay.
The purpose of the envelope is to provide the voters a way out if somebody approaches them and offers money in exchange of their precious vote.
Fr. Amalay said money collected in the same envelope that is deliberately tried to buy off the vote of the person would be either: returned to the running candidate, given to the poor, or donated to the church which will use it to fund the education of the poor children in La Paz.
“It’s not ‘dirty money’ we collect. Once it gets out of the church, it automatically gets spent,” says Rev. Fr. Amalay correcting the concept on the collecting of “dirty money.”
“The money becomes dirty when it is used to buy off voters,” he stressed.
Aside from La Paz district, the “not for sale” campaign is also practiced in the town of Tubungan in southern Iloilo.
“It is a neutral campaign for the elections but the message is clear in showing to the politicians that not all votes of the people can be bought,” says Fr. Amalay referring to the more than 2,000 voting parishioners who signed the Covenant.
“More or less, we are 2,000 less corrupt voters,” he ended.
