American Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research (AJHSSR) 2022

American Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research (AJHSSR)

e-ISSN: 2378-703X
Volume-6, Issue-6, pp-210-216
www.ajhssr.com
Research Paper Open Access

Vote Buying, Government Accountability, and Political

Corruption: The Case of the Philippines
Cecilia C. Garson
President Ramon Magsaysay State University

ABSTRACT : Vote buying and political corruption have been permanent features of the Philippine political
landscape. Despite laws that prohibit and punish vote-buying and corruption, these phenomena continue to exist
in the Philippines. The implementation of the anti-corrupt practices act in the Philippines is only one of the
mechanisms of the government to fight corruption. The study will examine how vote-buying and accountability
affect corruption in the Philippines. It will primarily give emphasis on corruption as the effect of vote-buying
and accountability using the data provided by the “Varieties of democracy” (V.Dem). The study used Multiple
Regression Analysis to model the causal relationship between the explanatory variables; government
accountability and vote-buying; and the response variable; political corruption. The results found are striking;
there is no correlation between accountability and corruption. In the case of vote-buying and corruption, the
study revealed that there is a statistically significant negative linear association between the two
KEYWORDS: accountability, corruption, government, political landscape, vote-buying

I. INTRODUCTION
Vote-buying is a well-known global phenomenon around the world. This phenomenon form part of the
Philippines’ political landscape since colonial times. ( Schaffer 2005)
Section 261(a)(1) of the Omnibus Election Code provides that a person is guilty of vote-buying if “he
gives, offers or promises anything of value to any person, entity or community in order to induce the public to
vote for or against a candidate”. (Election Code). This provision of the code expressly prohibits vote-buying in
the Philippines, but despite the law, vote-buying still persists in the country. This practice is like a cancer cell
that keeps on growing, it was strengthened because of the automation of elections where cheating becomes
difficult.
Vote buying becomes institutionalized in the Philippine political landscape. Elite politicians use their
influence, money, and government resources to entice voters to vote for them. In return, the beneficiary
reciprocates by offering his support and personal services to the benefactor. A study revealed that vote-buying
and clientelism may induce corruption because the winning candidate who spent more money to buy votes will
likely to recover his expenditures during his tenure. ( Kramon 2013)
According to Julio Teehankee, “institutional and procedural defects prevent the electoral politics of the
Philippines from becoming meaningful to effective and efficient governance. He also argued that while the
nation’s elections are rather open, the issue of the lack of real and political alternatives still exists.”( Teehankee
p.187)
Also, corruption is a widespread global phenomenon despite mechanisms to make politicians
accountable to the people, corruption is still rampant. Political accountability includes an exchange of
responsibilities between the rulers and the ruled. In other words, accountability is a mutual relationship between
the officials and the citizens. Moreover, Schmitter notes that removal from office of key officials like the
president or prime minister and loss of vote confidence are some positive indicators of political accountability.
(Schmitter 2007)
Political leaders may be investigated and be held responsible for their actions. Accountability is very
important for good governance. Political leaders are expected to fulfill their promise to the electorates after they
are elected because they owe their position to the electorate. Adsera( 2003) adds that citizens can play an
important role in making their rulers accountable through elections. The fear of losing in the next election can
compel the leaders to answer to the voter’s interest. ( Adsera par.4).

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 American Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research (AJHSSR) 2022
II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
This chapter discusses the theory and model that this study uses in determining the relationship
between vote-buying and government accountability to corruption.

Robert Klitgaard’s Corruption Equation

Political corruption means that a political leader uses his power or government resources to enrich
himself or for his own private gain. (World Bank 1997)
Combating corruption is known to be a very difficult and sensitive issue that many national political leaders who
tend to advance such efforts in principle are hesitant to do in practice. Robert Klitgaard (1998) asserted that
corruption arises according to three variables; first, monopoly, second, discretion, and third, accountability. He
asserts that corruption equals monopoly plus discretion minus accountability (C=M+D-A). ( Klitgaard 1998).
Thus, to reduce corruption monopoly and discretion must be reduced and increase accountability.
The formula suggests that corruption may arise when an official is given sole authority to decide
without control. Here, Klitgaard claims that monopoly increases the incidence of corruption. It also claims that
discretion can cause corruption and finally it claims that accountability reduces corruption, hence more
accountability will reduce the incidence of corruption. However, Klitgaard also considered that weak civil
society participation, the party system, and other socio-economic, political, and legal causes may lead to
corruption. It is also interesting to note that Klitgaard finds culture as one factor that encourages corruption. He
also included bribery, embezzlement, extortion, nepotism, graft, and campaign contributions as some forms of
corruption.
Additionally, Klitgaard (1998) and Ackerman (1999) enumerated four factors that promote corruption;
monopoly of power, lack of accountability for every decision made; lack of transparency, and extensive margin
of discretion.
From this corruption equation model, this study will use only a part of the corruption equation. In
particular, political corruption is a function of vote-buying and is negatively related to government
accountability. Hence, political corruption (C) increases when there is a prevailing incidence of vote-buying
during election times, however, reduces when there is existing government accountability.

To better illustrate this relationship, a visual representation of this framework is presented below.

ACCOUNTABILITY -
POLITICAL
VOTE BUYING + CORRUPTION

Figure 1. Relationship of Government Accountability and Vote Buying to Political Corruption

This figure reflects that the incidence of vote-buying has a positive relationship with political corruption
whereas government accountability is negatively related to political corruption.

III. PRESENTATION OF DATA AND ANALYSIS

This Chapter provides the presentation of the data collected as well as the analysis guided by the
questions provided in the first part of this paper.

3. A Trend of the Election Vote Buying in the Philippines [1907-2015]

Data shows that vote-buying is relatively high. During the years 1907 and 1909, the Philippine
legislature was established and many Filipinos aspire to political participation. The 2007 legislative and local
election shows that vote-buying is also high. Vote-buying increased during the 2010 presidential election.

Vote Buying

Mean -0.900294118
Standard Error 0.198834162

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Median -1.215
Mode -0.54
Standard Deviation 1.159392436
Sample Variance 1.34419082
Kurtosis 0.432404834
Skewness 0.848945311
Range 4.61
Minimum -2.71
Maximum 1.9
Sum -30.61
Count 34
Table 1. B
Descriptive Statistics of Election Vote Buying in the Philippines from 1907-to 2010

Table 1. B reflects the central tendency as well as the measures of the range of variability of the raw
data values of election vote-buying in the Philippines from 1907-to 2010. Based on the said table, the average
score of vote-buying incidence is -0.900294118 which seems to imply that there is a negative 0.9 index of vote-
buying in the country.
However, the standard deviation of the data values is 1.159392436 which signifies a minimal
dispersion of the raw values of vote-buying during the said period of time.

3.B Trend of the Election Government Accountability in the Philippines [1907-2013]

Table 2. B
Descriptive Statistics of Government Accountability in the Philippines during 1907-2013

Accountability

Mean 0.529705882
Standard Error 0.067801594
Median 0.535
Mode 0.06
Standard Deviation 0.395347835
Sample Variance 0.156299911
Kurtosis -1.596524207
Skewness 0.083050769
Range 1.12
Minimum 0.01
Maximum 1.13
Sum 18.01
Count 34

Table 2. B reflects the central tendency as well as the measures of the range of variability of the raw
data values of election vote-buying in the Philippines from 1907-to 2013.
Based on the results reflected in the table, the average score of government accountability is
0.529705882 which means that there is a 0.53 index of government accountability in the country.
However, the standard deviation of the data values is 0.395347835 which signifies a minimal
dispersion of the raw values of vote-buying during the said period.

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 American Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research (AJHSSR) 2022
SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VOTE BUYVOTE-BUYING AND POLITICAL
CORRUPTION
This section presents the correlation results and multiple linear regression analysis results between
political corruption and vote-buying in the Philippines covering the period of 1907-to 2015.

Table 3. A
Correlation Result of the Relationship between Political Corruption and Vote Buying
Association R-value P-value
Vote Buying and Political
Corruption -0.61637 0.001652373

Based on Table 3. there is a negative moderate linear association between vote-buying and political
corruption (-0.61637). This linear association is perceived to be statistically significant (p-value=0.001652373 <
0.05) hence an increase in vote-buying incidence in the Philippines can be accompanied by a decrease in
political corruption. This is contradictory to the key argument of Kliitgard’s corruption equation. This can be
explained by the vote-buying case in the Philippines. In Orbeta (2018) he reported that although vote-buying is
rampant in the Philippines, it is usually practiced at the local levels, and despite the laws that prohibit illegal
practices during the election, no candidate received punishment or penalty for violating the anti-vote buying
law, additionally, few incidents of vote-buying were also reported to the Commission on Election, thus the data
on vote-buying is low. (Orbeta, 2018)
Table 3. B
Regression Analysis Result of the Relationship between Political Corruption and Vote Buying
Relationship Coefficient P-Value Standard Error
Vote Buying and Political -0.051729014
Corruption 0.00009 0.011520578

Table 3. b depicts the regression analysis results of the relationship between political
corruption and vote-buying. It is shown that the causal relationship between political corruption and
vote-buying is statistically significant (p-value = 0.00009 < 0.05). Moreover, this implies that an
increase of one percent in vote-buying incidence in the Philippines causes a decline of -0.051729014
percent in political corruption. This is opposite to the key argument of Kliitgard’s corruption equation
which argues that these two are positively related. A possible explanation is an r-value which is only
(0.40) which means that only 40% of the data was explained by the model. The remaining 60% is
generally attributed to unaccounted factors.

SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP OF GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY TO POLITICAL

CORRUPTION

This section presents the correlation results and multiple linear regression analysis results between
political corruption and government accountability in the Philippines covering the period 1907-to 2013.

Table 4. A
Correlation Result of the Relationship between Political Corruption and Government Accountability

Association R-value P-value

Government Accountability and
Political Corruption -0.13417 0.830133374

Table 4.A. illustrates that government accountability is negatively (little to very weak) correlated [r=-
0.13417] with political corruption in the Philippines capturing the period provided in this study.
This is in support of Kliitgard’s Corruption model arguing that there is a negative association between
corruption and accountability. However, this perceived linear association is not statistically significant hence it
can be argued that this correlation can either be by chance or the data used may not be sufficient to prove the
statistically significant linear association of the said two variables.

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Table 4. B
Regression Analysis Result of the Relationship between Political Corruption and Government Accountability
Relationship P-Value Standard Error
Government Accountability and
Political Corruption 0.26185 0.033785113

Table 4. B shows the regression analysis result of political corruption and government accountability.
It can be derived from the result that the relationship between the said variables is not statistically significant
despite that there is an association that is captured in the previous table [however not statistically significant].
This outcome does not align with Kliitgard’s corruption model which claims that accountability is
negatively related to corruption. However, this can be explained by the following reasons; (a) the data values
that were utilized in this study may not be sufficient to support the theory; (b) the conceptualization of the
variables used to test the said corruption model is not similar to what this study has undertaken. While the
theory is generally acceptable, In the Philippine setting, one or more independent variables need to be identified
to better understand the corruption index.

IV. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

Taking into consideration the significant arguments of the Kliitgard’s Corruption model concerning the
variables involved in this study, the outcome of this paper does not want to argue on the inapplicability as well
as inaccuracy of the said model in the case of the Philippines. Instead, this study would only contend that there
might be other mediating or intervening variables that are not significantly and appropriately treated in the
statistical examination of the relationships of the variables that affect the outcome.
In the case of the association as well as the relationship of political corruption to vote-buying, it can be
noticed that there is a statistically significant negative linear association and relationship between the two. It is
also argued in this paper that this outcome contradicts the argument of Kliitgard’s Corruption model. The reason
for such a result may be because of the low r-value which is only 40%. It means that only 40% of the data was
explained by the model. On the other hand, in terms of the association as well as the relationship of political
corruption to government accountability, despite that there is a negative association between the two, this is not
statistically significant. A similar result occurs in the determination of their relationship. While it seems logical
that accountability should always be significantly and negatively related to corruption as also argued by
Kliitgard’s Corruption model, this study acknowledges the fact that there might be incongruences to the
conceptualization of variables used in the study compared to the variables represented in the model, an error in
terms of data collection or insufficiency of the data to stand for a statistically significant relationship.

V. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The corruption formula of Klitgaard Corruption = Monopoly + Discretion – Accountability explains
that corruption prevails when an individual has the “monopoly of power over a product or service and has the
discretion to decide how much to receive, and where accountability and transparency are weak” ( Klitgaard,
1998).
The study revealed that the correlation between accountability and corruption does not exist. Such a
result diverges from Lederman’s (2011) belief that once corruption is prevalent in a given community, from a
local to a national scale, the accountability of those who are in the political seats increases concerning the degree
of malpractices. With these diverging facts, the data may not be sufficient enough to establish a statistically
significant negative association between accountability and corruption. Further research which would use larger
data is hereby recommended to validate the result.
Although most literature suggests that vote-buying is a form of corruption and corruption is a
manifestation of the ills of democracy and vote-buying is contributory to that, the result of the study revealed
that in the case of the Philippines, the increase in vote-buying decreases corruption. This contradicts the key
Arguments of Klitgaard’s Corruption model: That the higher the vote-buying, the higher the corruption. In the
Philippines case, it is undeniable that vote-buying is a part of every election, however, a report said that vote-
buying in the Philippines is hard to prove. The commission on Election even admits that the commission cannot
institute a case against the offenders for lack of evidence. (Orbeta 2018) Hence, if the political candidate will
not get a conviction, then he is not guilty of vote-buying. This will then decrease the incidence of corruption in
the Philippines since according to Klitgaard, bribery is a form of corruption, Vote buying can be attributed to
bribery since giving and receiving gifts are one of the legal meanings of bribery.
Moreover, the researcher offers two possible solutions; a. Increase the sample size or number of
observations to increase the strength of evidence to support the theory. Transformation of variables is
recommended so that the transformed variables may fit a linear model.

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Additionally, this study can serve as the basis for policy formulation. The government should also be
strict in implementing the anti-graft and corrupt practices act. Under the Omnibus election Code, vote-buying
and vote-selling are election offenses and violators may be imprisoned for 1-6 years. The omnibus election code
should also be repealed especially the penalty of 1-6 years. The provision on prohibited practices during the
election should also be revisited so that candidates who buy votes will be apprehended. Voter education should
also be conducted by the commission on election not only to educate the voters but to remind them that vote-
sellingis an offense, and the campaigns against vote-buying should be intensified.

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