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Sunday, May 23, 2004
Leaders decry Cebu fraud tag
STUNG by allegations that Cebu was “one of the centers of cheating” in favor of President Arroyo during the elections, her local allies challenged the camp of Fernando Poe Jr. to show proof.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña blamed Poe’s debacle on his own failure to provide funds for his political machinery in Cebu and that Cebuanos do not get swayed by the “razzle-dazzle” brought by entertainment personalities.
He said Poe could not claim he was cheated because the mayor’s own brother, Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, was his leader in Cebu.
The mayor said his cousin and political enemy, Sen. Sonny Osmeña, a reelectionist who lost in Cebu City despite being in Arroyo’s senatorial line-up, would be the first to cry fraud in the elections.
Sonny did not make it to the magic 12 even in Cebu City, a result, the mayor said, that showed Cebuanos have rejected the senator.
Mayor Osmeña, along with Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north) and Coconut Farmers Federation of the Philippines (Cocofed) nominee for sectoral representative Emerito Calderon, hastily called a press conference yesterday to denounce the accusation.
Hard toil
Del Mar said the turn- out in Cebu City was the product of hard toil in their part to campaign for Arroyo.
In Cebu City, Arroyo got at least 220,000 votes over Poe’s 58,000.
Del Mar said that aside from campaigning for their own candidacies, they always made it a point to include Arroyo and, except for Sonny, her whole line-up.
He said Poe has no basis to claim victory because it is Arroyo who leads in the ongoing count.
Calderon, for his part, said that in campaigning for his party-list group all over Cebu, he observed that the Cebuanos were for Arroyo and not for Poe.
Osmeña said that among the three candidates for governor of Cebu, not one allied themselves with Poe.
All three candidates supported Arroyo, he said.
“Movie stars won’t make good candidates in Cebu City,” Mayor Osmeña said, referring to popular action star Poe and his star-studded campaign sorties.
An exception was Ramon Bong Revilla Jr., whom the mayor said local allies specifically supported and campaigned for.
He called the allegation as “unfair to the integrity and reputation of the Cebuano electorate”.
Poe’s camp still has to present proof, while Arroyo is clearly ahead in the polls, the mayor said.
“President Arroyo has the more credible claim to victory because she has led all the way,” he added.
He further said they will not take the allegation sitting down and they will issue a statement that Cebuanos are sensitive of their reputation.
He urged Poe’s allies to respect the will of the majority as expressed in the ballot. RHM
(May 23, 2004 issue)
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