Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manuel Villar Jr. could be liable for vote-buying and disqualified from the presidential race for giving away scholarship grants, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Friday.
Speaking to reporters, Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said the Omnibus Election Code bans candidates from handing out “money or anything of value.”
“The fact that there are tuition fees that would be paid for or books, clothes and even miscellaneous expenses that would be covered... that is ‘money or anything of value’,” he said.
The act of giving away scholarship grants is tantamount to vote-buying, Sarmiento said.
The Omnibus Election Code defines vote-buying as “giving, offering or promising money or anything of value” to induce anyone to vote for or against any candidate.
Vote-buying is considered an election offense, which carries the penalty of one to six years imprisonment as well as the removal of the right to vote and be voted for.
Last Thursday, Villar’s camp gave out several scholarship grants to school children that attended a rock concert that they had organized at SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.
However, Villar said the action is not vote-buying since he did not come up the stage to prod people to vote for him.
The scholarships were handed out by his daughter Camille, he added.
Military warns Villar
The military warned Villar Saturday against campaigning in military camps after he and other NP candidates had their photographs taken with former Marine Col. Ariel Querubin outside his detention cell in Camp Aguinaldo.
Querubin is an NP candidate for senator.
Armed Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner said Brig. Gen. Felipe Tabas, Camp Aguinaldo commander, will represent the military in the meeting with Villar to remind him to stop involving soldiers in partisan activities.
“Our camp commander will talk to the camp of Senator Villar,” he said.
“We will ask them not to repeat what they did last Thursday since we are very sure that they will again visit Colonel Querubin in the future.
“The order given (to Tabas) is to communicate with the party of Senator Villar and ask them not to repeat what they did.
“The agreement was very clear. They were allowed to visit Colonel Querubin provided they would not campaign inside the camp.”
Villar: I did not campaign in Camp Aguinaldo
In Lipa City, Batangas, Villar denied that he had engaged in illegal campaigning in Camp Aguinaldo when he visited Querubin.
Speaking to reporters after visiting two markets in Batangas City and Lipa City, Villar said there was no basis to claims that they were campaigning when they had their photographs taken with Querubin, who is detained at the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
“I didn’t see anybody there except some soldiers so I just don’t understand who we were supposed to be campaigning to, and we couldn’t just campaign to one another,” he said in Filipino.
The only civilians in Camp Aguinaldo when they visited Querubin were members of the media who had covered the visit, Villar said.
Everyone was surprised when Villar and other NP candidates emerged from the meeting with Querubin, walking with their arms linked to one another.
Armed Forces chief Gen. Victor Ibrado said the action of the NP candidates caught him by surprise and was a violation of their agreement not to campaign within the camp.
However, Villar said that they were just showing their solidarity with Querubin, an NP candidate for senator.
“We just walked,” he said. “We are united so I guess that’s why they called it a unity walk. We walk united.”
Villar said that it was preposterous to claim that they were campaigning inside Camp Aguinaldo.
“If we wanted to campaign, then we would have chosen an area with more people,” he said. “So there was no violation there.”
Military police immediately whisked Querubin to his detention cell after having his photograph taken with the NP candidates.
NP senatorial candidate Adel Tamano said they can file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus with a civilian court to force the military to allow Querubin to campaign outside Camp Aguinaldo.
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