Chavit comforts kids with cash

After raffling off money in a campaign sortie in Misamis Oriental, Team Unity senatorial candidate Luis "Chavit" Singson admitted yesterday he tried to comfort the children held hostage in a bus by Armando Ducat Jr. on Wednesday by giving them P500 each.

"Baka ipa-disqualify niyo na naman ako (You might seek my disqualification again)," Singson told The STAR in a telephone interview.

Singson, who negotiated for the release of the 26 pre-school children and their four teachers and managed to get two grenades from Ducat during the hostage crisis, explained how he came to play a major role in the drama.

Singson is being criticized for talking to Ducat and boarding the bus with the hostages, which police authorities said was a lapse in the handling of the incident.

Singson said Ducat was not a personal friend but he went to the scene when he heard Ducat’s accomplice, Cesar Carbonell calling for him to come over in a radio interview. Carbonell was the photographer when Singson attended a function in Zamboanga years ago.

Singson, the Ilocos Sur governor who is faring poorly in the surveys midway into the May 14 elections, said he also talked with Ducat over the phone before he boarded the bus.

"I asked him if he needed me and he said yes," Singson said.

Singson stressed he did not think his participation would earn him much political brownie points.

He also denied having anything to do with the hostage drama, which some quarters said was a political gimmick given the election season.

The joke going around was that he (Singson) orchestrated the incident to boost his ratings in the surveys.

"Inggit lang sila (They are just envious) because they were not able to do what I did. They cannot put their lives on the line. All they do is criticize me even (if) they have not done anything but watch," Singson said.

Singson’s spokesman Alex Bautista also said the governor’s role in the hostage crisis was no political gimmick, and that Singson was confident of landing well within the winning circle in May.

Singson admitted, though, he knew the accomplice Carbonell.

Singson said he recognized Carbonell as the photographer when he was made datu in Zamboanga four years ago.

He added the accomplice was the one who approached him and asked if Singson remembered him.

The governor said over ABS-CBN News Channel that he told Carbonell his face was familiar and thus Carbonell reminded him about the Zamboanga affair where he served as photographer.

Singson said he was a former police officer and made sure he never violated any rules when he boarded the bus and negotiated for the release of the hostages.

"I coordinated with the police authorities and they allowed me," he said.

Singson said it was Ducat himself who instructed him to distribute money to the children.

"He told me it was okay because children were not voters anyway. At saka krisis daw (And he said it was crisis time)," Singson said.

Some of the children interviewed by various broadcast media bared the "gift" they received from Singson and one of them was photographed holding a crisp P500 bill.

Asked what the children’s reaction was when they were handed the money, Singson said: "Tuwang tuwa sila (They were very happy)."

Singson was investigated by the Commission on Elections for giving out P1,000 each to winners of a raffle he held on the side of a town hall meeting in Misamis Oriental.

He denied any wrongdoing, saying it was the organizers of the event who conducted the raffle and requested him to add some money for the prizes.

Other Team Unity bets Michael Defensor and Vicente Sotto III defended Singson and said they saw nothing wrong with what the Ilocos governor did to help resolve the situation.

Defensor said he spoke with Ducat over the phone as well while the incident was going on and the hostage-taker discussed with him the request of residents of Parola in Tondo, Manila for the government to just award to them the lots they had been occupying for years.

Defensor, who was in Isabela campaigning, said he informed Ducat that the Arroyo government had granted such request.

"And he understood. After my explanation, he calmed down and he told me he was planning to release the children already," Defensor said.

As regards Ducat’s grievances on corruption, Defensor and Sotto said it was unfair to blame just one administration for it.

Defensor said the administration was addressing such problem but it would take time to eradicate it in the country’s culture and system of government.

Sotto said the incident was out of the ordinary. "You cannot control the minds of the 80 million Filipinos in the country."

He said it was unfortunate that Ducat went awry with all his wrong statistics. "The man was misled," Sotto said. -with Non Alquitran