NEWS CARAGA VOL. 2, No. 302
www.businessweekmindanao.com
Monday
Disqualify Aquino MAYOR AMANTE TELLS COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS
By PAT SAMONTE Caraga News Bureau
BUTUAN City––Mayor Ferdinand Amante, Jr. here has filed a petition with the Commission on Elections for the disqualification of rival Rep. Jose Aquino II for alleged prohibited acts under the Omnibus Election Code. Aquino is challenging Amante for the top post of this commercial capital of Caraga Region on Monday’s election. In a 14-page petition, Amante, through lawyer Agustin Tarroza, alleged that on or about April 17, 2013, Aquino “has allowed the installation and display of a large billboard, with a bulldozer along J.C. Aquino Avenue, the main thoroughfare and the National Highway in the City of Butuan, fronting respondent’s political headquarters.” Amante claimed that the billboard, “notably without any identification as to source and in whose favor
P10.00
Vote-buying in Surigao City, Surigao del Norte: From 10-peso to P5,000 By Roel Catoto of MindaNews
SURIGAO City––Vote-buying has been reported in this city and in various towns across Surigao del Norte with the amounts ranging from as low as P10 to as high as P5,000 depending on the contested positions. Surigao folk call money used to buy votes “tili-tili,” which literally means drizzle or light rain. Twenty- and 50-peso bills at 20 and 50 have reportedly circulated in different villages in the city and in the province through purok leaders or “coordinators” who serve as bagmen of politicians. A 26-year-old voter of Barangay Luna, Surigao City said he had received so far a total of P540 and five boxes of match. Two candidates for councilor gave him P20 each, and two others gave him P50 each. The same voter received P100 from a candidate for mayor, 350 from a congressional candidate and five pieces of matchbox from an aspirant for the provincial board. He said the coordinators came to his house and handed the money stapled to a paper bearing the candidates’ names and their faces. Before leaving, he added, they would say, “Ajaw kalimte sija sa eleksyon” (Don’t forget him/her this election). The source said he has become jobless after his work contract with a mining company expired last year. But he admitted that even if he has a job he would still accept money from politicians, saying it would just be pocketed by the coordinators if he refused. “Some leaders will keep the money to themselves, they will not distribute all of it,” the source, who was a coordinator during the 2010 elections, said. He said he expects bigger amounts with one party reportedly offering at least a thousand pesos to voters VOTE BUYING? An unidentified man distributes P100 bills with a small paper bearing who would vote its candidates for governor, congressthe name of a politician in Barangay Luna in Surigao City on Thursday, 9 May 2013. Mayoral candidate Christopher Bonite, whose name was printed on the paper accompanying the bills, man and mayor. He said candidates who resort to vote-buying has a has denied sanctioning the act in an interview with MindaNews. vote-buying | page 11
full story | page 8
Oro mayoralty bet accuses LP bets of maligning Comelec CAGAYAN de Oro City–– Mayor Vicente Emano on Saturday denounced the local Liberal Party (LP) candidates of incriminating the Commissions on Election (COMELEC) of planning to rig the mayoral election here scheduled today. Emano said his office received an unsigned instruction to all LP watchers and the Center for Democratic Party to be on guard against teachers assigned as Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) by the Comelec. These BEI teachers would bring 300 jamming
May 13, 2013
devices on election day here to delay transmission of the election results, Emano said. He said that the BEI would then open the Precinct Count Optical Scans (PCOS) to replace the memory card so that a data configured earlier would, instead, be sent. Emano said that the LP has panic that it is imagining anything so it could have reason to blame or protest the local COMELEC of their imminent defeat. “It is unfortunate that the Liberal Party in Manila has comelec | page 11
Vote-buying gets trickier Vote-buying in the country has become more sophisticated and rampant than ever as the May 13 election approaches, a Catholic Church-backed poll watchdog said. The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) said that political parties had become wiser about buying votes to avoid detection and to ensure victory. Ana Singson, PPCRV communications and media director, said candidates or their emissaries are tempted to buy votes “in the dead of night.” “Without being specific in Northern Luzon and even in Mindanao, we are getting reports that some parties rove at night with CVL (computerized voters’ list),” Singson said. “The voters are asked to sign thinking that it’s official because they have the list… now knowing trickier | page 8 Ana Singson, PPCRV communications and media director.
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