‘Initiative’ advocates cry bribery in Cotabato

Sigaw ng Bayan volunteers yesterday accused some power blocs in South Cotabato of bribing barangay officials and residents supportive of the people’s initiative for constitutional change to withdraw their signatures.

Despite the underhanded tactics, the Charter change Advocacy Commission (AdCom) continues, drawing huge numbers of Charter change converts in key areas of Mindanao, such as Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Sultan Kudarat, and Compostela Valley — where two AdCom teams were welcomed by the people.

AdCom chairman Lito Monico Lorenzana and his team were well received in Tagum City by Davao del Norte Gov. Gelacio Gementiza who declared the entire province "Cha-cha (Charter change) country."

Gementiza informed the AdCom that 15 to 24 percent of the registered voters in the congressional districts of the province had already signed up for the people’s initiative.

In General Santos City, Sigaw ng Bayan spokesperson Raul Lambino said over 1,000 people at the city plaza witnessed the debate on Charter change between AdCom members and opposition stalwarts led by former Rep. Lualhati Antonino.

"This is the kind of national discussion that will educate the electorate and help them weigh the pros and cons before making choices," Lambino said. "We welcome this kind of interaction because we are able to clarify whatever misconceptions and misinformation is being circulated by the opposition about Charter change."

Sigaw ng Bayan regional coordinator in Central Mindanao and former South Cotabato governor Hilario de Pedro and lawyer Remigio Roxas said certain politicians identified with the opposition reportedly had been bribing barangay chairmen to convince signatories to remove their names from the petition.

The duo said scions of a formidable political clan were making the rounds of villages in the province to convince barangay chairman to pay petition signatories to retract their signatures.

"For every P300 bribe, the retractor is paid P200 while the barangay chairman gets the P100 incentive," De Pedro and Roxas claimed.

"These immoral, deceitful tactics only prove the utter desperation of the opposition to stop the snowballing clamor for constitutional reforms in Mindanao," said De Pedro, who has served three terms as congressman.

He also blamed the opposition’s reported tactics for undue delays in the verification of the signatures by the local election registrar there.

However, "these affidavits of retraction executed by several dozen people will hardly make a dent, given the groundswell of support displayed by the people of South Cotabato," De Pedro said.