Inmates, too, rally votes for Cordi bets

INMATES of the city jail last Saturday scrounged what they could, thereby helping the Cordillera's two entries into the final of "Pilipinas Got Talent" on June 12, Independence Day.

After watching the semi-final, the prisoners passed the hat and added P1,000 from a visitor. As they're banned from possessing or using cell phones, they then asked jail warden, Superintendent Rebecca Pawid, to load her unit and text their votes for Broadway singer Ingrid Payaket and dance troupe Baguio Metamorphosis.

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Pawid spent the weekend repeatedly thumbing the votes on her mobile after watching the last semi-final competition among six of the 36 semi-finalists on ABS-CBN.

"What the inmates raised will be used for the grand final voting," Pawid said Monday morning. She had charged the previous text toll to her account.

By then, the news was out that Payaket, a 22-year-old Ibaloi from Kabayan town, and Metamorphosis had been chosen to complete the 12 grand finalists this coming Saturday night at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Meta, a dance troupe led by Karen Navarrete-Anton of I Love Aloha Philippines, topped as the viewers' choice with 28.78 percent of the text votes cast.

Payaket landed third with 17.97 percent but still took the last final berth as the judges' choice with her rendition of a piece from "Phantom of the Opera".

In response to the call for support from chairman Salvador Tubedan of "Barangay Pag-asa" (as the prisoners call the jail), the inmates had pooled P180, with Cell 29 contributing P70 and a "good luck" note.

Hours before last Saturday's semi-final, the inmates got wind of the text voting while launching their tree seedling project to mark World Environment Day and as part of prison reform. Forester Emil Damogo, who's helping establish the nursery, whipped out P1,000 to start the support drive.

"The prison crowd burst into cheers when the Baguio contestants finally got the slots for the final competition," said George who heads the staff box of "The Insider", the prison in-house publication.