Cebu City’s officialdom will be closely watching today’s hotly contested selection for the federation president of the city’s Association of Barangay Councils (ABC), as it will determine who will end up as the dominant force in City Hall.
The choice is so crucial that on the eve of the election, opposing camps are accusing each other of buying votes by the millions of pesos and of sequestering allies.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, who heads the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), has accused members of the opposition, Barug Team Rama PDP-Laban, of visiting the houses of BOPK-allied barangay captains and offering them P500,000 in cash as “deposit,” with two million pesos more in the offing, in exchange for their vote for Mabolo Barangay Captain Prisca Niña Mabatid.
Mabatid, a neophyte barangay captain, is vying for the ABC presidency against BOPK’s bet, Kasambagan Barangay Captain Franklyn Ong.
Osmeña posted a picture of two bundles of money in P500-denomination which was allegedly given by Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella and Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia, both Barug stalwarts, to each of four BOPK barangay captains — Francisco Benedicto of Zapatera, Daido Abcede of San Antonio, Virgil Cabigon of Apas and Omar Durano of Cogon-Ramos — on Saturday night.
“How desperate are you for it to be Team Suyop’s Raymond Garcia and even Edgar Labella himself spending Saturday night going to the (barangay) captains’ houses and offering them your money? Do you think Captains Cabigon, Durano, Benedicto, and Abcede (to name a few) are really going to sell their vote for a 500,000 peso “deposit” plus P2M if she wins? Take your money back; they don’t want it daw,” read Osmeña’s post.
In a text message to Cebu Daily News, Osmeña said each of the four barangay captains informed him of the alleged visit of Garcia and Labella and the offer.
A post on the Facebook page of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña where he claims these bundles of money totaling P500,000 were offered to a barangay captain in exchange for a vote in
favor of Mabolo Barangay Captain Prisca Niña Mabatid as federation president of the city’s Association of Barangay Councils (ABC). Mabatid has denied the claim. /fb screenshot
Big, fat lie
Garcia, reached for comment on Sunday, vehemently denied the allegation.
“That accusation of Mayor Tomas Osmeña is a big fat lie that is as fat as his belly. I never went to the house of any barangay captain last night,” Garcia said.
Garcia added that he could not have visited the houses of the barangay captains as he has no idea of where they live.
Among the barangay captains that the mayor mentioned in his Facebook post, Garcia said he only knew where Cabigon lived but has not been in the latter’s residence for the past two years.
“How can I go to their houses and offer them any amount when I don’t even know where they live?” Garcia said.
Garcia also challenged the mayor to prove his allegations within 24 hours or resign.
“If he can prove within 24 hours that I was in the house of those four people, I will resign as city councilor — automatic, no ifs and buts. But under the condition that if he cannot prove that, he should also resign,” said Garcia.
Mabatid also denied that she has been courting the barangay captains to vote for her through offering them money.
“That is not true. That is, again, another black propaganda [by the other camp]… I think they are doing that to psy-war their allies. That’s all they do. They threaten the barangay captains [to side with them],” said Mabatid.
Who is buying votes?
On Sunday, Mabatid and her allied barangay captains gathered for lunch at the house of Councilor Jose Daluz.
“It’s a simple gathering and we prepared a cowboy-style lunch. If I can afford to buy votes, why can’t I host them in a hotel,” Mabatid said in a phone interview.
She likewise stressed that while she was seriously engaging in a campaign to win votes, she has not gone as far as buying the votes of her colleagues in the ABC.
Mabatid claimed it was the BOPK camp that was alleged offering an unspecified amount of money to her allies so that they would junk her.
“They tried to buy my allies’ votes but all of them refused. My allies were victims of the mayor’s harassment before that is why they (BOPK) cannot get them,” Mabatid said.
Garcia also said that the BOPK-allied barangay captains were allegedly gathered on Sunday morning at a posh club in Banilad, Cebu City before they were brought to a private resort in Danao City.
“They are staying there tonight and they will head to the voting venue tomorrow morning,” Garcia said.
Amid the allegations of vote buying, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Cebu City said they could not do anything about it as the ABC federation election is beyond their jurisdiction.
“The ABC elections is under the Liga ng mga Barangay and we can’t act upon it if there will be no complainant. I also don’t know where the complaint should be lodged,” said Joyevelyn Calvo, DILG- Cebu City head.
Calvo also clarified that gathering each party’s allies is not prohibited under the guidelines of the ABC elections.
“That is not prohibited under the guidelines unlike the SK (Sangguniang Kabataan) elections where it was really prohibited for them to gather five days prior,” Calvo said in an interview.
What’s at stake?
The heat in the race for the ABC presidency does not exist for nothing, as the results of today’s ABC federation election in Cebu City would determine the majority in the city council.
The winning ABC president will sit as an ex-officio member of the city council.
At present, BOPK and Barug Team Rama are tied, with each having nine members, including outgoing ABC President Phillip Zafra who is affiliated with Barug. Labella, also an ally of Barug, sits as the council’s presiding officer and has often voted to break the tie in favor of Barug.
If Ong will win as ABC president, BOPK will have the long-coveted majority in the council, thus stopping Labella from having to break a tie.
Osmeña has long been wishing to regain the majority in the council in order to have his projects passed. Osmeña was particularly incensed that the opposition in the city council managed to get the votes that junked the P18-billion joint-venture agreement he had forged with the Gokongwei-led Universal Hotels and Restaurants Inc. for the development of Kawit Island at the South Road Properties (SRP).
Mabatid used to be part of BOPK but was booted out from the party after rumors circulated that she wanted the ABC presidency, even as Osmeña had already endorsed Ong, and after she was embroiled in a dispute with some employees at a hotel in Cebu City.
While Mabatid has decided to run as an as independent, she is openly backed by Barug. If she wins, Barug will continue to dominate in the city council.
BOPK accounts for more than half of Cebu City’s 80 newly-elected barangay captains but until the last vote is counted, there is no guarantee that all would vote for Ong, with Mabatid campaigning to get some of them to her side.
Unopposed
In Cebu province and the independent cities of Mandaue and Lapu-lapu, the ABC federation elections are not as eventful as that in Cebu City.
In the province, incumbent ABC-Cebu federation President Celestino “Tining” Martinez III is running unopposed, which is the second time that he is running for the post without an opponent.
Martinez, who was a former Bogo City mayor, is the barangay captain of Barangay Cayang of the city. His running mate, former Samboan Mayor and now Barangay Poblacion chief Raymond Joseph Calderon, is also unopposed for the vice presidency post.
In Lapu-Lapu City, Barangay Captain Eduardo Cuizon of Bankal is also running unopposed and will need just one vote from the city’s 30 barangay captains to be declared the winner.
However, it will be a close fight between two barangay captains in Mandaue City.
Incumbent ABC President Ernie Manatad of Barangay Subangdaku will be challenged by Greg Yap of Barangay Banilad.
Manatad, an ally of Sixth District Rep. Jonas Cortes, had earlier said he was confident to get a majority of the votes of the 26 other barangay
captains in the city.
Of the 27 barangay captains of Mandaue City, 14 took their oath before Cortes while 13 did so before Mayor Luigi Quisumbing. /WITH CORRESPONDENT JESSA MAE O. SOTTO