Malonzo seeks Comelec control for Caloocan barangays

Caloocan City Mayor Reynaldo Malonzo, who is seeking a congressional seat for the city’s first district, urged yesterday the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to place several portions of the city under the poll body’s control.

"I’m urging the Comelec to place some parts of the city under its control to ensure a peaceful and orderly conduct of election in Caloocan on Monday," Malonzo said.

He named in particular Dagat-Dagatan, one of the depressed areas in the second district and Bagong Bario in the first district as well as other "areas of concern" which he said were violent prone.

Malonzo cited what he called as the "cheap gimmicks" of his political opponents just to gain voters’ support.

"There’s this foiled bombing gimmick of a mayoralty candidate, which could have resulted in injuries and even more than that if it wasn’t discovered by the police," Malonzo said.

He was referring to a fire bomb discovered inside a multi-cab being driven by the younger brother of mayoralty candidate Edgar Erice.

Police said that the bomb was set to be detonated at Erice’s own rally and blamed on other candidates to gain voters’ sympathy.

Erice denies the accusation.

Malonzo also cited the circulation of tampered copies of a tabloid newspaper Balita dated Jan. 18, 1983 being allegedly perpetrated by another political opponent.

The banner story on the newspaper reads "Malonzo arestado sa rape" with a kicker saying "Action star, inireklamo ng pamangkin."

Malonzo’s picture also appeared with the news item in the front page of the newspaper where a pregnant girl is pointing to him.

The newspaper date also stated "Lunes, January 18, 1983."

A check in a 1983 calendar showed that Jan. 18, 1983 was a Tuesday and not Monday.

In a press conference yesterday, Malonzo presented to reporters the original copy of the Balita Jan. 18, 1983 issue where his name and picture was nowhere to be found in the front page.

He also presented a letter, dated May 6, 2004, from Liwayway Publishing, Inc., the publisher of Balita, disclaiming the circulated copies maligning Malonzo’s name.

"They would resort to all kinds of schemes, some were even violent just to win the election," Malonzo said.

He urged the Comelec to get into the situation to avoid vicious incidents on the election day. – Pete Laude