Thursday, May 17, 2007 Councilor denies turning off switch, detaining child
PASIL, Cebu City Barangay Councilor Mario Bitang yesterday denied detaining a boy and turning off the main power switch of the voting center during the counting in last Monday’s elections.
He said the lights suddenly went out around 8 p.m. when he was at the school grounds and saw three armed men and congressional aspirant Jonathan Guardo’s supporters approaching him.
He was forced to call for police assistance, and managed to leave for home only after the police arrived, he said.
There were reports that Bitang, who supported incumbent Congressman Antonio Cuenco, turned off the main switch of the electrical connection of the school where the canvassing was held.
A boy reportedly saw Bitang turn off the main switch and that he brought and detained him at home.
“The boy saw that somebody wanted to throw a stone at me. I invited him to my house because he had nothing on. He was hungry. I gave him clothes and fed him. The grandmother is a supporter of Guardo. That’s why they changed the story,” he said in Cebuano.
Bitang said that had he really wanted to disrupt the counting by causing a brown-out, he would hire someone to turn off the switch instead of doing it personally.
He said he was visiting the school to check on the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan watchers and was on the grounds when power was cut off for at most two minutes.
Bitang, who has been getting death threats, said he saw the glint of nickel-plated guns of three men who were approaching him. He tried to run away.
But Guardo’s supporters, who blamed him for the power interruption, allegedly became unruly and blocked his way, prompting him to call for help.
For his part, Barangay Captain Romeo Ocarol, who supported Guardo instead of Cuenco, said that while the loss of power was a cause for suspicion, it did not affect the elections’ outcome. (RHM)
