Beware of the opponents' dirty election tactics
Three days from D-Day, the goons and vote buyers of the dirty trapos are on the loose. This is the time when the dirty tactics coming from desperate candidates are going to be unleashed. We should all be aware and be vigilant.
In elections and in wars, and even in love rivalries, it is not always the good guys who will win. Many times, the bad boys and bad girls with dirty tactics come out as the winners. So let the good ones be wary. Let them be alert and be proactive enough to anticipate those who are notorious for hitting below the belt. Let them remember that Christ lost an election to a criminal, Barabbas.
This is the crucial part of the campaign when we are approaching the finish line. One candidate has a lot of money, a lot of logistics, connections and national endorsement. That candidate can buy votes at as high as P2,500 per voter, can buy barangay captains at as high as P300,000 to P500,000 each, and, believe me, even mayors at P1 million to P3 million each, depending on the size of the town. There is even a rumor that a national candidate can buy congressmen at P5 million each.
Well, the buyer must have gotten a large cash advance, let's see, some P100 million from the contractors who were promised big, big projects that were inserted in the 2019 budget. The problem is that the president has vetoed that portion of the national appropriation act. Thus, the contractors are now crying but the candidates already got the big amounts and they are now buying voters, families, barangay captains, and mayors. There is no voter, family, barangay captain, or mayor who could resist such big bucks.
The strategy is to buy at least three mayors in a district with ten towns and let those mayors declare publicly their switching of support three days before the elections. Then the barangay captains and families are asked to have their constituents do the same. Such earth-shaking announcements will shock and paralyze the opponents and demoralize their campaign teams. Then the dirty players will finish the opponents with their “miting de avance” where their new converts would declare publicly their dramatic switching of loyalties. The opponents have neither the time nor the resources to counterpunch.
These are supplemented with threats that those who refuse to be bought would be reported as linked with the illegal drug trade, and those arrests and prosecutions are made of the leaders of the opposition. These are some of the many dirty tricks on the ground. Many small players would opt to accept the money rather than be tagged as drug dealers or protectors. But, believe me, there are still brave and principled small town leaders who are ready to be prosecuted or even kidnapped, harassed, or killed in the name of their principles and core beliefs.
I am warning the good ones that the dirty politicians are now in overtime buying everyone and anyone. The decent candidates must quickly respond with an effective counter attack. Or else, the battle will be lost, and soon, even the war.
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