AHEAD of the May 13 elections, allegations of vote buying are spicing things up in Cebu City and Cebu’s third district.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, who are both vying for the mayoral position on May 13, are fighting it out on social media with posts showing money being given to potential voters.
In the Third District of Cebu, lawyer Pablo John “PJ” Garcia is accusing Toledo City Mayor John Henry “Sonny” Osmeña of perpetuating vote buying by telling radio listeners how he is going to buy their votes.
A Facebook post of “Tomas Hari sa Sugbo,” a page allegedly created by critics of Mayor Osmeña, showed a card of the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) slate and the name of the voter, precinct number and barangay stapled with P1,000 cash. It also carried the text “Vote Straight BOPK.”
“Boss admin mao ni ang nadawat sa akong mama diri sa Lahug. Sayo gyud kaayo nanuktok. Naa pa poy pakapin bugas 3 kilos,” read part of the text which was posted at 7:11 a.m. on May 3.
At around 11:35 a.m. on the same day, Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella’s official Facebook page ran a post of a Facebook account holder named “Lovely Amor” which showed five P1,000 bills with a colored sample ballot bearing the names of the Barug PDP-Laban slate headed by Labella.
The money and the sample ballot, however, was not stapled.
“Mas grabe ni! Palit jud tibuok pamilya. Ipasiguro lang Mayor Labella ug Niña Mabatid,” Lovely Amor’s caption on her post reads. The card showed the voter’s name (which was marked with a pink marker to hide the identity), precinct number, cluster number and the school where the voter will vote, which indicated Lahug Elementary School.
Labella denounced the allegation and said he will leave it to God to exact justice for what Amor had done.
Labella said since he entered politics, he has never resorted to vote buying to win.
“Since I entered politics, I never resorted to vote buying just to win. Not then, not now. To the one who posted this malicious picture, ang Ginoo na lang ang bahala nimo, Day. May God bless you,” Labella’s post reads.
Superbalita Cebu sent a message to Mayor Osmeña to get his reaction but as of 7 p.m. Friday, the mayor had not replied to the request.
New vote buying scheme
In a Facebook post on April 17, Garcia posted a two-minute video of the Toledo City mayor’s alleged pronouncement of a vote buying scheme.
“SONNY OSMEÑA admits he will BUY VOTES and lure new unsuspecting voters (using “modern” technology) in the coming elections,” Garcia’s post reads.
But Osmeña is unfazed.
“With the technology these days, I do not even know where that recording came from, if that is even me. However, even if that was I, they were simply hypothetical statements pointing out some loopholes in the law, which loopholes I plan on addressing when I am elected into office. My advice to my opponent is to focus on his floundering campaign instead of making up unverified stories in order to smear my campaign,” Osmeña said in a statement sent to SunStar Cebu Friday evening, May 3.
The two-minute video featured an audio clip of what was reportedly an interview of Osmeña with dyRC radioman Nanding Celeste.
There were no details, though, on the date and time of the interview, as well as on the context behind the conversation between Osmeña and Celeste.
In the video, Osmeña can be heard saying: “Pananglitan nga pangawat, mga pera padala. So, og ako, gusto magpadag kwarta sa usa ka tawo, sa usa ka barangay sa lungsod, ako nalang ibutang didto’s papel sa (name of pawnshop). Akong ihatag ang kwarta, moabot ra na didto direkta. Karon, mga bagong pamaagi ang padala, padala og kwarta. Og text, padala og instruction, pulong, textan tika na ugma adlaw sa election, ayaw baya og kalimti nga atong congressman si John Osmeña. (If I want to send money to a person in a village in the town, I could send the money through a pawnshop. It will reach him directly. If text message, send instructions. I’ll text you that in tomorrow’s election, don’t forget our congressman is John Osmeña.)
“Kanang text, nganlan kana nila og text blast. Sa ato pa na, mura kana og shotgun. Inig pindot nimo, maski usa ka libo ka taw, makadawat og text blast. So mao na kinahanglan nako ang ilang telepono kay aron maka text blast ko. Pananglitan dinhis Toledo, duna koy gipadagan na text blast. Ang akong mensahe nila simple ra kaayo: ‘Ngano man gayud intawn nga mopilit mo nianang pildiro? Biyai na ninyong pildiro. Og inyo nang biyaang pildiro, naay gasa gikan sa langit, pangitaa lang ninyo sa (name of pawnshop).’ Og di sila magpaila nako, way madawat. Sila ray alkansi.”
(For text messages, they call it text blast. Even 1,000 people can receive the text blast. So I need their cell phone numbers. For instance, here in Toledo, I sent a text blast with a simple message: ‘Why do you stick with a loser? If you leave that loser, you will receive a gift from heaven. Just look for it in this pawnshop.’ If they don’t identify themselves to me, they won’t receive anything.)
Osmeña, Garcia and former Pinamungajan mayor Geraldine Yapha are running for the congressional seat of Cebu’s third district.
Vote buying monitored
Meanwhile, lawyer Chauncey Boholst, acting election officer of the Commission on Elections Cebu City North District, said the office and police are on alert for possible vote buying in the city.
He said the fight between Labella and Osmeña is heated, but they cannot act on allegations of vote buying if no one files a complaint. He encouraged witnesses to come forward and execute an affidavit.
He also expressed reservations on the reported vote buying on social media, saying it is too early and it may just be a strategy to confuse the public.
Boholst urged the public not to accept money from politicians and sell their votes.