Follow On Google+Campaign period is almost over and that why politicians are doing all they can to campaign and be noticed by its constituents, but for those who wanted an easy win, they let a bullet seal their win. Just recently a mayoralty candidate was shot during his campaign speech and no one has any idea who the gunmen were.
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Who is the traditional politician?
Assasination is the dirtiest tactic in Philippine election. Many elections has passed but still people get killed just for the sake of winning a seat in the government. No matter how our government put an effort to end election violence there seems no solution to it.
Besides violence there are also election related dirty tactics in the Philippines, here are some of it:
Vote buying
[image: pcv.com.ph]
This is probably the most common dirty tactics during election. Politicians hire "team leaders" to give money on the voters. These people usually appear on the day before the election, roaming at midnight and early in the morning. They carry a huge bag full of money with stickers of the candidate then give it to the voter in return of promising to vote their candidate. Team leaders are scattered in different barangays and municipalities, they are usually known in their own barangay so that people will trust them easily.
Campaign materials removing
Politicians will do anything to get noticed and one of the easiest way to do that is flood the whole town with their own campaign materials. But you are not the only one doing that, that is why some are backlashing others campaign materials to replace it with their own. These people are paid to remove or paint campaign materials of their political opponent.
Assasination
[image: Philstar.com]
As I have mentioned above this is the deadliest among election dirty tactics. Politicians in desperate to win hires hitmans to do their dirty work. If you notice this country is full of political dynasties and behind those families are mercenarries, ready to kill for money. Candidates who are trying to clash with a dangeroues politician often gets threatened or worse, get killed.
Flying voters
In the Philippines the dead can still vote, yes! they can, thanks to flying voters. They are people using names of the dead and pretends to be them during election. Flying voters are used by politicians so that they can vote many times on different precincts.
Television brainwashing
Campaigning on TV might not be a dirty tactic, but to some it is unfair because only the rich can afford to advertise themselves on national television. It is also a way to brainwash audience on their political motives and platforms. Most of the things they promise are all lies and very unlogical, I will give a sample:
Bam Aquino has said:
Sisiguraduhin ko na lahat ng Filipino may trabaho. Lahat may negosyo. (I will ensure that all Filipinos will have a job and a business).This is very unrealistic, because there is no country that has zero unemployment rate and by giving all people a job could promote child labor and if everyone has business there will be no worker.
This words promised by Mr. Aquino is misleading and unrealistic.
Another negative effect of too much TV advertising is dictating the winners based on surveys, it may not be accurate but surveys plays a big role in a candidates chance of winning because it influences voters on whom to vote. A politician usually won based on popularity and not on skills, personal achievenents or credibility to become a leader.
An example is Nancy Binay, daughter of Vice President Jejomar Binay, she is being criticized for her lack of achievements and skills as senatorial candidate. She didn't attend any senatorial debate on national TV and she even admit that she only run as Senator because her daddy wants to. But besides her lack of credibility she is very popular on surveys, she even ranked number 3.
I can't blame TV stations for advertising politicians, because it is still business. In fact ABS-CBN earned more than a billion on political advertisements alone, wow!
Personal sabotage
If you can't beat them with your platforms, why not sabotage their personal life. In the Philippines personal sabotage is a common dirty tactic, by doing some black propaganda against your opponent you can destroy their morale as well as what people see on them. These politicians usually digs a hole on the opponents personal life, whether its about their family background, past cases, corrupt practices, they expose them instead of giving the people their clear platforms. They give people the reason not to vote this candidate.
These are just some of the political dirty tactics in the Philippines, if you happen to know some kindly share on the comments below.
