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Thursday, January 29, 2004
John O, not Totol, cheated: Tomas
By Linette C. Ramos
CEBU CITY -- Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeņa believes that his cousin Sen. John "Sonny" Osmeņa is the one who cheated for lawyer Aristotle Batuhan in the 2001 congressional race.
Osmeņa said he does not believe that Batuhan himself could have carried out the switching of the ballots after the May 10 elections since the lawyer does not have enough political clout in Manila.
What Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south) does not realize is that his real opponent is Senator Osmeņa and not Batuhan, said the mayor.
"The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has determined that there was cheating against Cuenco in 2001. It's beyond my imagination that Batuhan could do it alone. Sonny maneuvered something to make money for Comelec to arrange this kind of massive switching of ballots," the mayor said.
"Sonny is too smart to show his own hands. So who else will that be? Batuhan does not have that kind of clout in Comelec," Osmeņa told reporters on Wednesday afternoon. He, however, did not provide any evidence for his accusation.
Senator Osmeņa could not be reached for comment last night as he was still in Congress. His representatives in Cebu were also not ready to issue a statement.
But Batuhan, reached for comment, said the mayor does not seem to know the issue too well, since the election protest is with the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) and not with Comelec.
"The mayor must have been in a state of inebriation when he said that. I don't know if he was sober enough to realize that my protest is not in Comelec, but in HRET," he told Sun.Star in a phone interview.
Question
In a press conference on Wednesday noon, Batuhan said he will file on Friday his motion for reconsideration before the HRET.
He will question the tribunal's basis for concluding that the ballots do not merit the "evidentiary weight" that it should be given.
"I have no illusions that it will be favorably acted upon but as a lawyer and a candidate, I cannot let a legally flawed decision stand without questioning it," he said.
Batuhan added that his challenge to undergo lie detector and psychiatric tests still stands, if only to find out who cheated in the elections.
Batuhan filed the election protest after Cuenco defeated him in the 2001 congressional race by over 3,000 votes.
Last Jan. 22, HRET dismissed the complaint and ruled that ballots were switched after the elections in favor of Batuhan.
Mayor Osmeņa said he also does not believe that former city treasurer Eustaquio Cesa committed the fraud while the ballot boxes were in his custody after the elections.
Pork for health
Stressing that it has nothing to do with politics, Batuhan launched on Wednesday his foundation's P9 million worth of health care assistance to indigents.
The health cards of the "Kahimsug Mo, Gugma Ko" program of the Pagtambayayong Para Sa Bag-ong Sugbo Foundation Inc. (PPBSF) are limited to residents of Cebu City's south district.
Batuhan, chairman of PPBSF and opposition candidate for congressman in the south district, said it cannot be avoided that people will think of the program as a political propaganda.
He explained that funding for the project was requested in 2002 yet but was released only last Dec. 20.
"I know the timing will be questioned but let's get away from politics this time and see this as a program of the foundation to help the people alleviate health problems," Batuhan said during the launching.
He added that the funds for the program came from the Priority Development Assistance Fund of Senator Osmeņa.
Under the program, hospitalization expenses of patients from the south district in the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) will be subsidized.
While it is the foundation that will screen the patients who will qualify, VSMMC hospital chief Filomena delos Santos said they will also enroll patients who need financial assistance.
(January 29, 2004 issue)
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