Raffles conducted by candidates, whether done online, will no longer be allowed starting Feb. 8 when the campaign period officially starts.
This was the reminder of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Spokesperson James B. Jimenez to candidates who are still planning to continue their raffles.
He said that candidates holding raffles are committing “vote buying” during the official campaign period.
The poll body spokesperson added that same goes to the giving of any form of assistance, saying it is no longer allowed once the campaign period begins.
“Bawal naman talaga ‘yan (raffles),vote-buying ‘yan (Raffles are prohibited during the campaign period, that’s vote buying!” said Jimenez.
He went on by saying that candidates are not allowed to give anything of value to their “supporters to encourage them to vote.”
“Because you know, you might say that it's for some other reason, but you know, none of us were born yesterday.”
“So we all know that it's going to be for vote buying purposes. And unfortunately, in terms of vote buying, you're going to need your complainant talaga...”
With this, Jimenez called on the public to file a complaint should they witness vote-buying activities in their respective area
“This is very important for those of you who see things that are being done that you feel vote buying activities, please, file a complaint. Please stay with the complaint so that we can prosecute it to the finish,” he said.
If candidates think that they could get away by calling it “ayuda (aid)”, Jimenez said that calling it assistance cannot save them from lawsuits.
“It goes without saying that you can no longer give money away and say it is for ayuda (assistance). You can't walk around with a cash gun and make it rain. You can't do that.”