Failure of election in Bogo City pushed

CEBU, Philippines - The election in Bogo City may already be finished, but for defeated mayoralty candidate Mariquita Salimbangon-Yeung, the fight is not yet over as her camp is set to ask the Commission on Elections to declare a failure of election in Bogo City.

Yeung will also file a disqualification case against reelected Mayor Celestino “Junie” Martinez Jr., who, she said, committed some “acts of terrorism” during the election day that prevented several of her supporters from going to their precincts to vote. The mayor allegedly used the City of Bogo Anti-Crime Task Force in harassing her supporters.

 She said they will ask the Comelec to conduct a special election and declare Bogo City under Comelec control.

Yeung said despite her loss in the mayoralty race, she will still continue helping the people.

“My charity work will continue, I will continue to help the poor people of Bogo. Even if napilde ko, I will still help the people of Bogo,” said Yeung, whose foundation, the Mariquita Salimbangon-Yeung Charitable Foundation Inc. has been involved in several charitable works for quite a number of years.

Yeung said her brother, reelected congressman Benhur Salimbangon, was “hostaged” by Martinez’s camp in Barangay Pulang-bato.

Aside from the disqualification against Martinez, the Salimbangons will also file separate complaint for disbarment against lawyer Carlo Martinez and other charges related to the Pulang-bato incident.

This following the stand off Monday evening in Barangay Pulang-bato where Martinez allegedly asked the police to search the vehicle of Rep. Salimbangon.

Benhur said because of the incident, which he described as a “desperate move,” they failed to monitor the other barangays.

According to him, Junie together with his wife, Clavel and son, Tining held them “hostage” in Barangay Pulang-bato when their more than 10 vehicles were not allowed to pass through.

Based on the video presentation during the so-called stand-off, Clavel said that Benhur’s vehicles must be checked after they received information that it has high-powered guns inside.

“Wala intawon mi anang mga high-powered guns. Pwerte gyud ni nilang ka bakakon. They want to us to open our vehicles, ngano gud tawon, ilaha pa lang planteran og mga armas. We are not the known warlords of Bogo unya kami ang ilahang pasanginlan,” the congressman said.

Benhur defeated Tining in the congressional race by a wide margin of over 70,000 votes. Benhur got over 137,000 votes while Tining got around 66,000 votes.

 But the congressman’s sister, Mariquita, was defeated by Junie in the mayoralty contest. The incumbent mayor garnered 21,086 votes against Mariquita’s 15,018 votes.

In yesterday’s press conference, Benhur said he was dismayed by how some members of media handle the reporting of the Pulang-bato case. “Milabas naman hinuon kami ang bati og mao’y nanghasi,” he said. “Kami ang gipang hostage, dili kami ang nang-hostage. Kami ang gi daug-daug didto. Dili kami ang nag daug-daug.”

He also lambasted at the police and military who were there during the incident for allegedly siding with the Martinezes and doing nothing. He said their lawyers are studying the possibility of including them in the case that would be filed against Martinez’s camp.

Lawyer Ferdinand Pepito, one of Yeung’s legal counsel said that he was so scared for his life and safety during the hostage situation as the police were not doing anything to alleviate the situation. — Jose P. Sollano, Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon, and Gabriel C. Bonjoc/WAB(FREEMAN NEWS)