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Monday, May 07, 2007
Stars, night café draw crowd for Team Unity
By Danilo V. Adorador III and Stephen Capillas
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- Saying they have already worn themselves out campaigning hard to win Mindanao’s vote, a Team Unity senatorial bet rebuked the opposition for saying the administration would rig the coming elections.
Sen. Ralph Recto accused the Genuine Opposition (GO) of attempting to "brainwash" the public into thinking that administration candidates are out to cheat in the elections to win, and branded such moves as "campaign dirty tricks."
Pinoy Votes: Sun.Star Election 2007 Coverage
Recto, along with administration senatorial bets Juan Miguel Zubiri, Michael Defensor, Caesar Montanto and Tito Sotto, spoke in a star-studded campaign rally over the weekend in Cagayan de Oro, where local counterpart PaDayon displayed its machinery by eclipsing the crowd of a recent opposition rally.
Recto underscored the victory of administration candidates, saying the opposition will "do nothing in the halls of Congress but talk about impeachment."
The senator's denial of possible election rigging by the administration mirrored discussions in local politics, where opposing sides are each hurling allegations of suspicious electoral activities.
Police estimated the crowd to be at 7,000 plus, while the attendance to a rally by the Genuine Opposition held two weeks ago was pegged at 5,000.
Wooing local votes, pro-Mindanaoan promises never escaped the senatorial candidates, who, aside from Zubiri, are not Mindanao natives.
Zubiri, a congressman in Bukidnon, said that once elected, he will allocate proportionately his pork barrel to all the island's provinces.
Fourth and fifth class provinces, he said, will get the larger chunk.
Montano, a film actor, director and producer, laid out a program not so removed from the Visayan-speaking natives of Mindanao: develop the Bisayan language and culture in the arts, especially in film-making.
The campaign sortie was timed with the weekly Night Cafe held Fridays and Saturdays at Divisoria and at the City Ampitheater, where the Genuine Opposition (GO) held a similar rally that was also well attended last month.
Charges of "election dirty tricks" have also seeped into the local level with congressional candidates Jose Benjamin Benaldo and Rufus Rodriguez of the second district trading accusations of vote buying and ballot-switching in recent days. (Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pampanga. (May 7, 2007 issue)
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