A TRUCK donated by Rep. Vincent Franco “Duke” Frasco (Cebu, 5th) to a barangay in San Francisco, Camotes Island was torched by unidentified assailants on Friday morning, Jan. 17, 2020.
On a statement posted on his Facebook (FB) page, Frasco said the burning of the truck he donated to Barangay Unidos “brings to mind the harassment, intimidation, violence and destruction that people had suffered for decades under the previous leadership in the district.”
In 2019, Frasco defeated former congressman Ramon “Red” Durano VI, ending the Durano clan’s 70-year reign in the district.
Durano, along with his relatives, heads the Fifth District’s Barug Alang sa Kauswagan ug Demokrasya (Bakud) Party.
“Maybe they thought it would hurt me if they burned the truck that I bought using my own money. But if you think about it, who is denied use of the truck because it has been torched? The people of Camotes will end up suffereing because of this incident,” Frasco said in Cebuano in his statement.
Frasco said the people are being “punished for exercising their right to choose change and to have hope.”
But in a statement on their FB page, Bakud Party officials led by Durano condemned Frasco for accusing them of torching the truck.
“We condemn to the highest degree this unbecoming conduct of a public official, who, instead of extending arms, resorted to sowing intrigue and further division among the people,” Bakud Party’ stated in its post.
They also urged Frasco to leave the conclusion on who torched the truck to authorities and not issue baseless allegations as a “desperate attempt to paint the incident politically.”
“Lastly, the (Bakud) Party believes in the rule of law. We are as interested as much as he is in finding the truth and we put it to the capable hands of those in authority. We refuse to be part of this trial by publicity and we challenge those who made these accusations to press charges, present bullet-proof evidence to support your allegations,” it said. (Mae Fhel Gom--os, Usj--r Intern)