Saturday, March 31, 2007 BO-PK handpumping, GO caravan on By Rene H. Martel Sun.Star Staff Reporter
FOR incumbent officials running in the May 14 polls, juggling their campaign and work schedules without having to sacrifice one over the other could be a problem.
But for the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) candidates, the start of the campaign period yesterday means waking up early and sleeping late for the next 44 days.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, BO-PK head, specifically reminded them that their responsibilities at City Hall should not suffer while they are campaigning, said north district City Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem.
“Dili biyaan ang among trabaho. Most councilors have executive functions, like ako sa sports, so the campaign must not affect our day-to-day work activities,” he said.
Yesterday, BO-PK candidates gathered separately at certain areas in the south and north districts around 5 a.m. and started their house-to-house handshaking by 6 a.m.
Jakosalem said they finished at 8 a.m. so that they will have time to return home, change their clothes and report to City Hall.
They resumed their campaign sorties at 7 last night with a pulong-pulong in six sitios in Barangay Guadalupe and eight in Barangay Mabolo.
Jakosalem said they first visited those barangays where BO-PK got the highest number of votes.
They went to Mabolo while their south district counterparts went to Guadalupe.
With the same routine until May 12, south district Councilor Rodrigo Abellanosa said the campaign will serve as a form of exercise for them.
Going out early does not only allow them to meet those who are on their way to work, but they also get to avoid the sweltering heat, he said.
Go’s swing
The Genuine Opposition (GO) candidates, for their part, held a caravan at 7 a.m. and went around the south district barangays.
Led by congressional bet Jonathan Guardo, they met at Punta Princesa, the bailiwick of candidate Jose Navarro, and visited the barangays.
In the afternoon, GO mayoralty candidate Mary Ann delos Santos also had her own caravan with running mate Raymond Garcia and north district council bets in Lahug and neighboring barangays.
She also held a gathering in Lahug last night where she explained to her constituents why she is running.
Describing her fight against Osmeña like that of David and Goliath, delos Santos asked the public to help her make history by becoming the first woman mayor of Cebu City.
In an interview yesterday, Guardo reacted to Osmeña’s allegation of vote-buying by the opposition camp, saying it was the BO-PK that resorted to vote-buying in previous elections.
“Kung imong tan-awon, I’m a neophyte candidate. Historically, in terms of vote-buying, it has always been BO-PK. In 2004, for example, P5,000 to P10,000 ilang gi-distribute kada kapilya, magpa-bingo sila,” he said.
And while BO-PK defeated all Kugi Uswag Sugbo candidates in the 2004 elections, Guardo said theirs “is a different group.”
“Kahibalo na mi sa maniubra nila. Ready na mi nila,” he added.
The GO, though, did not field a complete slate as it lacked three south district candidates for councilor. (RHM)
