Electioneering raps filed vs Rama

CEBU, Philippines - Councilatorial candidate Danilo Pacaña wants Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama disqualified from running for public office over the release of cash incentives when the election ban is in place.

In a complaint before the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Pacaña, a candidate of Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), said Rama committed electioneering when he released cash incentives to barangay captains, councilmen, treasurer, and secretaries last month.

“I am filing the instant complaint owing to the blatant violations committed by Mayor Michael Rama against the Omnibus Election Code, using and wasting taxpayer’s money and other resources and engaging in vote-buying, to have him disqualified from holding public office in accordance with Section 264 of the Omnibus Election Code,” he said.

Rama, for his part, said the election ban cannot stop the distribution of incentives.

“That is not the intention of the Comelec restriction. The intention of the Comelec restriction is when you create a project just so quickly to make others, in a way, benefited and motive is for election advantage to any party,” he told reporters in a press conference at the Rajah Park yesterday.

As of yesterday, Rama has not received a copy of the complaint but said he will answer the allegations after the elections.

In his complaint, Pacaña cited reports he read in newspapers about the city distributing the cash incentives to barangay officials at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino in Barangay Lahug.

Barangay captains were given P15,000 each; councilmen received P9,000 each; while secretaries and treasurers were given P6,000.

Pacaña said he called Pulangbato councilman Kevin Seno to confirm the release.

“Councilor Osmeña informed me that the amount of P31,680,000 allocation was taken from the Aid to City Barangays under the item Allowances of Annual Budget CY 2015 since the city is operating under a reenacted budget after the Department of Budget and Management declared the 2016 Annual Budget as inoperative in its entirety,” Pacaña said.

Both Seno and Osmeña submitted affidavits to support Pacaña’s complaint.

Pacaña said Rama violated Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code, which contains the prohibition of “vote buying and vote selling.”

He said the distribution of incentives was made without the exemption from the Comelec, making it “illegal and improper.”

“While I find the giving of allowances to barangay officials laudable, the disbursement in this particular case was made at such time wherein the release of funds during the campaign period is prohibited without securing first an exemption or approval from the Comelec, hence, illegal,” he said.

Pacaña said the venue of the distribution is a “plush and five-star category hotel,” which is a waste of taxpayer’s money. — (FREEMAN)