By Robert B. Roque Jr.
Now that the elections are past, let us face some hard, humiliating truths about the Filipino electorate.
Vote-buying, for example, is no longer a discreet crime whispered in rural corners, inner-city alleys, or behind the closed doors of political clans and their handlers.
It has evolved into a full-blown community ritual—casual, coordinated, and disturbingly normalized. It shows up at your doorstep in Metro Manila, gets mentioned in the church parking lot after Mass, and comes as a neighborly tip-off near the bakery, the grocery, or the palengke.
It’s so out in the open that kids in public schools casually share which politician gave their parents “ayuda.” The next generation is growing up fluent not in civic duty, but in transactional politics.
What was once shamefully hidden has now become shamelessly shared—a community affair wrapped in justifications and jokes. Voters no longer pretend to care about platforms, programs, or track records. The real talk revolves around price points: how much per head, which camp paid on time, and who delivered cash or groceries more generously.
Even those crying foul and running to the Comelec to expose their rivals are often just as guilty, offended not by the crime but by the competition.
So it is no surprise that international observers monitoring the election season in the country have observed what we have long known: that what once drew whispers now echoes across provinces, barangays, and group chats.
The International Observer Mission (IOM) reported not only rampant vote-buying in various provinces but also the shocking brazenness of it—with payments ranging from P150 to as much as P5,000 per voter. No need for secrecy anymore; the scheme has grown legs and walks into barangay halls and Facebook inboxes.
Digital wallets even had to limit transactions to curb the flood of online payouts before Election Day. From envelopes in the dark to cash transfers in broad daylight, the machinery of corruption has simply adapted to tech.
In many of these cases, political dynasties are involved—those same last names whose faces wallpaper every lamp post and whose power has grown roots in our districts. And when they’re not giving handouts, they’re red-tagging their critics, intimidating poll workers, and spinning the machinery of threats like it’s part of the campaign playbook.
Comelec has received over 150 complaints. The IOM found even more, including dozens of threats and harassment against voters and progressive candidates. But here’s the truth: complaints don’t shake systems where impunity thrives.
This isn’t just about money exchanging hands. This is about a system that has normalized bribery and bully politics as campaign staples—and a citizenry that has, in many corners, accepted it with a shrug, if not a smile.
The real scandal isn’t just that vote-buying is rampant—it’s that it’s been absorbed into our social fabric, dressed up in the language of “tulong,” “ayuda,” and “balato.” We’ve baptized it with familiarity, making it easier to stomach.
Until we, as voters, recoil from this cultural rot with urgency and disgust—not just criticism—we remain complicit.
The price of a vote may vary, but the cost to democracy is always far higher.
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