Odilao shrugs off dare of Alcover to hold rally

CEBU, Philippines - The bickering inside the Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) partylist continues between former Bureau of Customs district collector David Odilao Jr. and Partylist Rep. Pastor “Jun” Alcover.

Odilao ignored Alcover’s challenge that he also stage a rally to determine who has more followers and deserves to be the first nominee of the party.

He also criticized Alcover for the incident last Saturday when the latter allegedly ordered his people here to hold a picket against Odilao in the middle of his appearance as guest at a radio program over dySS Super Radyo’s “Dialogue on the Air.”

“Abi man nako og dialogue on air to s’ya, nganong gi-rally-han man ko? Personal naman hinuon. That’s very unbecoming for a congressman nga naglingkod diha sa congress,” Odilao said.

Odilao insists that the issue on who is the rightful representative of ANAD was already brought to the attention of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) so the resolution of the case must be left to the election authorities.

“Nganung dad-on pa man nila sa gawas nga naa naman na sa Comelec? If their intention is to discredit me, do it in Comelec. I have all the documents that will prove they are fake,” he said.

With this recent move of the camp of Alcover, Odilao said that the latter has just shown that his ways are that of communism contrary to what the ANAD is pushing for.

“Ang iyang pamaagi, klaro kaayo nga komunista kay kung naa siyay dili ganahan, manghulga dayon siya,” he alleged.

He also clarified reports that he left the partylist group because he was not nominated. He said that it was Alcover who unlawfully dismissed him as chief of staff.

He denied Alcover’s accusation that he took with him a large sum of money intended as mobilization fund to recruit members.

“Unsaon man na nako pagkuha nga ang ANAD wala ma’y bangko, tanan naa niya. There is no such thing as transparency in ANAD because of him. This is a question on his leadership style. He is treating the party as a family affairs,” Odilao said. — THE FREEMAN