Wednesday, October 31, 2007 Dad saddened by vote-buying By Gil Alfredo B. Severino
TALISAY Councilor Chino Coscolluela was disturbed by the unrestrained distribution of money during the recently- concluded barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.
Cosculluela observed that it started by the crowding of people registering for the barangay elections, which he said, "For the naive, they would think that people are so excited to participate.
But in a closer look, one would see that these people were mobilized to be in one barangay. What does this mean?"
Then came the campaign period and the election proper of which Cosculluela deplored how people feasted over 'grease' money.
"I have seen this scenario happening even before I entered politics but now that I am in, the sight is awesome. If I may believe some reports, there are some barangay captains who spent around P150,000 in a municipality. How much amount is spent for a barangay captain in an urbanized city like Bacolod?" Cosculluela added.
But the better questions are: are these candidates spending money just to win? Are they not going to engage in 'payback time?' Cosculluela puzzled.
"There is a grave reason why money politics is called a crime and the people who voted a politician based on the money given will deserve the kind of leader whose mind is consciously or unconsciously a criminal," he further stressed.
Cosculluela is presently the regional president of the National Movement of Young Legislators (NMYL).
Earlier, prior to the barangay and SK elections, he appealed for a total independence of the barangay and SK elections.
