ALTHOUGH she has yet to decide if she will run for president of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) elections, allegations of vote-buying are surfacing against Mabolo Barangay Captain Prisca Niña Mabatid.
At least eight Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK)-allied barangay captains have claimed they received offers amounting to P1 million allegedly for them to vote for Mabatid.
These barangay captains are Clifford Niñal (San Nicolas Proper), Sergio Ocaña (Sawang Calero), Victor Buendia (Labangon), Juvy Ladraso (Sapangdaku), Frank Benedicto (Zapatera), Fredie Esmas (Day-as), Jing-Jing Cabigon (Apas), and Doming Lopez (Tinago).
A day before the village chiefs’ admission that they had received such an offer, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said reports about vote-buying are pointing to Mabatid as being among those involved.
Osmeña said that almost all allies of the BOPK were approached directly and indirectly. The mayor believes that a big business establishment is behind the vote-buying and supporting the opposition.
In an interview yesterday, the barangay captains claimed that for the past two weeks, several public officials (whom they did not name) have been offering them cash ranging from P200,000 to P1 million in exchange for support for Mabatid’s presidential bid.
Ocaña described them as “persistent”, but said he immediately turned them down.
Home visit
“Sorry lang gyud kaayo. Syempre, wa man gyuy laing kaatbang si (BOPK candidate Kasambagan Barangay Captain) Franklyn Ong ug Mabatid ra man. Nagpahibaw ko sa mga katawhan kay wa intawn ko mahalin, di ta madala ana (No one but Mabatid is running against Ong. I want the people to know that I did not sell out and that I will not be persuaded this way),” he said.
SunStar Cebu tried to reach Mabatid, but she was not available as of press time.
Niñal, on the other hand, said he was visited in his home last week by the same group of people that invited Ocaña.
A woman, whom he referrred to as “Kap” and “Ma’am”, got off a vehicle and approached Niñal but the latter said he did not welcome her inside.
“I told them it’s not good. Ning-offer gyud siya nga kuyog sa maka-usa lang nga mao na, P1 million iyang i-kuan plus muhatag pa siya og medical assistance. Ni-ana siya dili na angay ipaagi og City (Government) kay direct na daw sa barangay ang projects (She offered that if I joined her, she would arrange for P1 million and medical assistance. She said that projects shouldn’t have to go through the City but should go directly to the barangays),” he added.
For Buendia, who has served his barangay as village chief for eight years, the reported mass vote-buying will only taint and destroy the integrity of the ABC.
But for opposition Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia, this may just be hearsay.
“It’s all circumstantial, all hearsay. Besides, for me, kinsa may nag-una aning mga bribery sa SK (Sangguniang Kabataan) elections pa? Nga niingun siya ‘I will give you honorarium’ and ‘If you vote for a candidate who is supportive of me, I will give you P1 million in projects?’ (Who started by bribing the SK in their elections? Who promised to give honoraria if they voted for a candidate who supported him?),” he said.