Sarah Discaya disowns viral ‘babawiin namin’ post, says it’s not from her camp

MANILA, Philippines — Pasig mayoral candidate Sarah Discaya, a first-time voter, denied that a viral post claiming she was running to recover campaign expenses came from her camp.

After ticking her ballot at Bambang Elementary School, Discaya addressed questions from reporters about the Facebook post shared by her youth backers that made rounds on social media over the weekend.

“So you see, it’s not me that directly posted things like that. So this is black propaganda. Somebody must have done it for me,” she said at an ambush interview. 

The post in question was shared by the Facebook page “Kabataan Para Kay Ate Sarah” on May 9. It featured the official logo and format of Discaya’s alliance “Kaya This,” with a statement that read:

“Bakit tatakbo si Ate Sarah? Dahil ba babawiin niya ang ginasto niya? Opo, babawiin po namin pero hindi sa paraan na iniisip ng iba.” 

(Why is Ate Sarah running? Is it because she wants to recover what she spent? Yes, we will recover it, but not in the way others might think.)

Discaya explained that gifts aren’t meant to be returned. “‘Pag nagbigay kayo ng regalo ba, binabawi niyo pa ba? (When you give a gift, do you ask for it back?)” she asked. 

She also mentioned that she and her family are already blessed with good health, which is enough for her.

“Okay na ako doon. Hindi naman ako greedy kasi nobody knows my personality (I’m already satisfied with that. I’m not greedy because nobody knows my personality),” Discaya said. 

“So ‘yung babawiin (taking back) is not in my vocabulary,” she added. 

When Discaya was told that the post came from a group actively campaigning for her, she clarified that she doesn’t always agree or align with everything her supporters post.

“Ah, okay, it was campaigning for me. Pero you see, I don't always — ano ‘yun — sumasang-ayon sa lahat ng mga posts kasi hindi ko naman alam ‘yung post na yan. Ever since na ako eh nag-run for a position, I stopped using my social media,” she said. 

(But you see, I don't always agree with all the posts because I'm not familiar with that particular post. Ever since I started running for a position, I stopped using my social media.) 

Discaya is running to challenge incumbent Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto’s bid for a third and final term. 

A first-time voter and politician, she decided to run after Sotto revealed investigations into St. Gerrard Construction, her family’s firm, over cases of fraud, misrepresentation, use of dummies and contract anomalies.

The incumbent mayor also publicly disclosed that St. Timothy Construction — a company initially involved in financing Miru Systems for the new automated counting machines in this election — had links to the Discaya family. Comelec later decided the company would no longer fund the voting machines.

The rivalry between Discaya and Sotto predated the campaign period, but it escalated as the election season progressed, following claims that vloggers supporting Discaya were behind a smear campaign targeting Sotto.