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Friday, July 22, 2005
Editorial: Sonny’s accusation
Politicians have ganged up on former senator John Osmeña after he publicly charged that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo won in Cebu only by massive padding of votes.
The reactions ranged from the usual name-calling (“he has made a career of lies,” “loser’s sour-graping”) to a few revelations (“he failed to get a Cabinet post,” “he switched positions three times”).
The responses are not unexpected. The Cebu politicians have basked in the glory of making the President win and here’s a fellow politician saying Mrs. Arroyo’s votes were padded by 460,000 votes. That means, if we are to believe the former senator, the Cebu politicos cheated for her.
What is astonishing is that they unleashed their tirades against Sonny Osmeña without so much as checking his figures and the authority of his sources.
Sonny Osmeña waved a bunch of papers and they promptly went temporarily berserk over his allegations.
They should have asked to see those papers and compared them with copies of official certificates of canvass.
The former senator said he came to acquire the papers (whatever they contained) only now. That was why, he indicated, he attached a condition to his first declaration of support for President Arroyo, then totally abandoned her and, topping it all, excoriated her with accusation of stealing the election.
To be fair to Cebu’s pro-Gloria politicians though, Sonny Osmeña also waved a bunch of papers, presumably the same documents, at a press conference in Manila and also nobody bothered to check them for their contents.
The exercise is typical of debates in this country, the charges and counter-charges that fly with distorted proof or no proof at all to support them.
Let’s check Sonny Osmeña’s documents, compare them with copies of COCs on file with the Comelec and those kept by candidates. Displaying “props” is not enough.
Sonny Osmeña must have those copies all along because he was candidate. If he has new evidence, he must show them and not just tease the other Cebu politicians.
The verbal duel is interesting but it doesn't help Cebuanos answer the question: Were they cheated without their knowing it?
Sonny Osmeña is “grandstanding” for his political survival or he has the goods on the poll fraud.
His political enemies can get even by showing that his charges are not true and that he has lived up to his “career of lies.”
(July 22, 2005 issue)
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