JV to pull out donated vans after polls?

MANILA, Philippines - A group of barangay chairpersons in San Juan City expressed dismay over the reported pullout of vans given by former San Juan congressman and now Sen. JV Ejercito, a source said yesterday.

The orange L-300 FB vans – purchased using Ejercito’s priority development assistance fund – will be pulled out from barangays whose voters did not support now San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora in the May 13 polls, the source said.

According to the insider, the chiefs of Barangays Tibagan, West Crame, Maytunas, Saint Joseph and Sta. Lucia in district two and Barangays San Perfecto, Salapan, Batis and Rivera in district one were all shocked when they were informed that the vans distributed to them before the elections will be recalled. San Juan has 21 barangays.

“We are saddened because we did our best to help Congressman Zamora to win. But the people of San Juan, especially in our barangays, were the ones who cast their votes and decided,” the source said.

The vans were distributed by Ejercito before the elections, supposedly to enable the barangays to better deliver basic services to the community, they said.

“We are disheartened because despite the 101 percent effort that we did for Zamora, this is what we got,” one of the barangay chairpersons said.

Zamora defeated Jannah Ejercito, a cousin of the senator-elect and his half-brother Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada. Jannah is the daughter of movie director Jessie Ejercito, a younger brother of former President and now Manila Mayor-elect Joseph Estrada.