Tuesday, May 22, 2007 Death threats kept canvasser away
THE vice chairman of the Provincial Board of Canvassers received death threats Saturday night, which made him hesitant to attend the canvassing of election returns from Mandaue City the next day.
Lawyer Manolo Rubi said this was the reason he had to be fetched by two policemen from his house so he could attend Sunday’s canvassing.
The canvassing of election returns from Man-daue City was scheduled at 10 a.m. Sunday but it was delayed and reset to 2:30 p.m. because Rubi failed to arrive on time.
Rubi showed Sun.Star Cebu the threats contained in four text messages from one mobile phone number.
Three messages were sent Saturday night and one was sent when he arrived at the canvassing area at past 1 p.m. Sunday.
“We know u r set up 4 a mtg. wid boy abalos from luigi camp, just b sure dili ka moduwa og panikas n favor nya. from mandauehanon,” read the first message, which he received at 6:01 p.m.
Two minutes later, another message arrived. “Pagbantay kay daghan mata nagtan-aw sa imo lihok. di mi mosogot og binuang (Don’t make a wrong move. You are being watched),” it said.
Another message said, “Si boy albos diay sir, and finance officer sa norkis ang nakigsabot nmo. buak jud imo bagol2 f magbinuang ka. we asure u dat.”
Because of the messages, Rubi went home Saturday night and told his staff to inform Comelec Provincial Officer Lionel Castillano about the threats. But his staff couldn’t do so as the Capitol was already closed because of the “arrest” of the Board of Canvassers handling Bogo’s election returns.
Rubi plans to report the matter to the police and to the National Telecommunications Commission.
Rubi said he hesitated to go on serving as vice chairman of the canvassers’ board and that he just wanted to see his family in Leyte. The allegations surprised him because he doesn’t even know the persons named in the text message, he added.
It is not true that he failed to report to the canvassing area on time because he failed to wake up early, he added.
When he arrived last Sunday with two escorts from the Special Reaction Unit, he again received a text message: “Daghang salamat niabot naka. Pagtarong lang gyud karon (Good that you arrived. Just to your job correctly).”
The returns from Mandaue City decided who won as congressional representative of the sixth district.
Before the returns from Mandaue City were canvassed, Provincial Board Member Gabriel Luis Quisumbing was leading by 5,257 votes over reelectionist Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz.
But Ruiz got a majority of 8,897 in Mandaue City, bringing her total number of votes to 116,115 over Quisumbing’s 112,475 votes.
Ruiz was proclaimed after the canvassing despite a petition of lawyer Edgar Gica, who represents Quisumbing, to defer the proceedings.
In an interview over radio DyAB yesterday morning, Soon-Ruiz admitted she was dismayed by Rubi’s delayed arrival, because her parents, who showed up at the Capitol on time, could no longer manage to wait for hours to witness her proclamation. (MBG)
