Comelec urged: Stop cash aid in Mandaue

CEBU, Philippines — Opposition councilors of Mandaue City are requesting the Commission on Elections to deny any request from Mandaue City for exemption from the law banning the release of assistance to individual in crisis.

"There is clearly and obviously no impending or occurring epidemic, emergency, calamity, disaster or any other special circumstances in Mandaue City," the resolution signed by opposition councilors Cynthia Remedio, Malcolm Sanchez, Carmelino del Mar, Jr., Marie Immaline Cortes-Zafra, Ernie Manatad, Dalie Mae Cabatingan and Nenita Ceniza-Layese stated.

 “Similar disbursements prior to the ban have already been recorded and documented as being used by incumbent candidates under the administration to promote their candidacy and seduce possible voters in their favor,” the further stated.

But Vice Mayor and reelectionist Carlo Pontico Fortuna said that the opposition recognized the impact of their amelioration program.

"All I can say is that nahadlok ang mga opposition that our social amelioration program known as HELPS has created a tremendous impact in the daily struggles of the poor and those who have less in Mandaue City," Fortuna said.

Fortuna added that asking the Comelec to stop the city from releasing assistance for hospitalization, funeral assistance, medicines and educational assistance during the campaign period is anti-people and anti-poor and is clearly politically motivated.

Fortuna is the runningmate of incumbent mayor and reelectionist Gabriel Luis "Luigi" Quisumbing and the majority city councilors are allies of incumbent Cebu 6th District Representative and mayoralty candidate Jonas Cortes.

Sanchez, Remedio, Zafra and del Mar are now running for city councilors with Cortes as their standard beater.

Fortuna said that since 2018 until today, the city has given financial assistance to more than 15,000 indigent residents.

"In fact, COA has even recommended to establish permanent offices for the HELPS Center in all the Barangays for easy access for our constituents," the vice mayor said.

Fortuna added that no one has ever conceived a program such as this until now Quisumbing assumed the leadership of the City.

"Today, the poor and those in need have found hope in this administration. It is the opposition who are holding hostage the lives of the poor people. It is them who want our people to suffer in misery for their political agenda. We will stand against these selfish actions and continue to protect and come to the aid of the poor and the needy in our City," Fortuna further said.

During its regular session last Wednesday, a privilege speech was delivered by Manatad urging department heads not to be used by the incumbent mayor’s “wholesale use of government funds for vote buying.”

"Now, we see here in our very own Mandaue City, a process wherein millions of government money is being used as a possible ruse to seduce the Mandauehanons into voting for the candidates of the administration,” Manatad said in his privilege speech.

Manatad said that they observed that there are unusual assistance being processed and is “being done in a hurried manner as if beating an unseen deadline.”

While the administration would say that these assistance programs are being in the regular course of government service, Manatad said that the manner and volume that these are being executed are suspicious.

"The administration is holding the life of every Mandauehanon hostage by dangling out money like a lure to a hungry fish at the start of the election campaign,” said Manatad, who is also the prresident of the Association of Barangay Councils in the city.

Manatad also expects the administration to criticize them for blocking the assistance and will brand them as Team Babag, but he pointed out that “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty” and that they are doing this to protect public funds.—  MBG (FREEMAN)