Anti- Usurious 5-6 Program that benefits the poor

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Indians looking for Filipino traders by lending usurious
 rates for the latter seed money for their business.

A lieutenant of Binmaley, Pangasinan Former Mayor Enzo Cerezo said that the reason why his patron lost the mayoralty in the 2013 polls to incumbent Mayor Sam Rosario was because of the distribution of the identification cards Enzo’s wife Marissa fancied and spent so much time.
“I asked her in the eve of the election to withdraw P5 million to bribe 500 voters in our favour at P500 each”.


He said she did not heed his advice.
He said they purportedly spent P20 million on that poll which was much lower to the P35 million and P30 million the wife and Enzo , respectively, spent in the 2007 and 2010 mayoralty elections versus Rosario. Rosario defeated Marissa but lost to Enzo.
He said Rosario was astute in the 2013 election where his supporters allegedly asked Enzo voters not to vote in exchange of the P1000 bill and allowed their  nail, cuticle and first joint of the right finger painted by the violet indelible ink
“When we found that our supporters capitulated to Rosario we frantically used a cloth with gasoline to erase those inks on their finger nails”.
Even though the gasoline and cloth had been potent, it was too late because election had ended and Rosario dusted off Enzo with more than 1,200 votes.
“Maraming pera ang kalaban. Deputy administrator pa sa NIA (National Irrigation Administration) ang asawa,” he shakes his head.
When asked if Cerezo will challenge Rosario in 2016, the supporter could not give an unequivocal answer.
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Senator Alan Peter Cayetano is not only known as the charismatic solon exposing corruption, crossing swords with then Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and unmasking the hypocrisy of the members of the peace panel's Adviser Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles and government's peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, Moro Islamic Liberation Front leaders like Spokesman  Mohagher Iqbal, and the incompetence of some of the top brass of the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police on how they handled the Mamasapano, Maguindanao blunder.

Since covering his powwows in my province, I saw the rabble rousing Cayetano’s big heart, too.
Take this one from a beneficiary of his Pera-Trabaho-Kita (PTK) program.

 Carmelita Razo, a market vendor in Dagupan City, said with the help of the funds from PTK Cayetano gave to her Ulopan Na Sumisigay Ed  Dagupan, Inc. (UNSEDI), a fisherman’s association, she was able not only to spike her earnings but finally managed to help fulfil her youngest child’s dream of being a teacher. “Malaki ang naitulong sa pamilya namin ng PTK,” she said. “Sa PTK at sa tulong ni Kuya Alan, nabago ang buhay namin. Ga-graduate na sa Kolehiyo ang anak ko sa Kolehiyo De Dagupan.” "Aling Carmelita’s experience serves as an inspiration to me", said Sen. Cayetano.
"She is a living example of the change we want for our people,” he added. “To bring about this change among our people, government has to adopt new programs that not only directly help our people survive but help them keep their dignity intact," the senator stressed.
He said it is PTK's success stories like Aling Carmelita's that encourage PTK benefactors from the private sector to continue supporting it and allow him to work with more associations and cooperatives like (UNSEDI) through the PTK program.
 I just learned that Aling Lita, a vendor at the Magsaysay Fish Market, used to have a hard time making ends meet for her eight children, what with an earning of only P150 to P300 a day. Often cash-strapped, she had to depend on the usurious '5/6' loan sharks. After the UNSEDI adopted Sen. Cayetano's PTK program that enabled it to extend loans to its members, she quickly availed of a P10,000 loan for her small business - selling dried fish in her market stall. “Talagang nakatulong sa amin. Ang mga umutang sa PTK, ay umunlad din. Kagaya ko, nagdadaing ako, kung wala yung puhunan na iyon, maplilitan pa ako umutang sa 5/6, kaya konti lang kita ko” she stressed.

(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)