How Brgy Kap’s bets buy votes and win

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

(First of a Three Series Articles)

Now that the Barangay (Village) election is few more days to go, I will share the experiences of a Punong Barangay (Village Chairman) bet we will call in fictitious name Philip Dipaawat.

In my almost one hour interview with him, where he asked for anonymity, he divulged the illegitimate ugly sides of winning the vulnerable and susceptible hearts and minds of the voters in his and his opponents determination to win the coveted post in Barangay Nababayaran somewhere in the urban area of Northern Luzon.

In 2007 Barangay Election, Barangay Nababayaran had 8,000 voters.

ME: How many of you aspired for the position of Kapitan (Spanish term of village chief that was termed as Kapitan del Barrio before)?

DIPAAWAT: Five of us, but the two were spent force. My two tough opponents were a rich matron looking businesswoman and the junkie (narcotics dependent) looking son of the Kapitan.

He explained that even he tangled with the son of the long reigning undefeated Kapitan whose term ended in that year that contest was considered between him and the bowing out Punong Barangay Roberto Dimagiba.

ME: How much was your budget against your two rivals?

DIPAAWAT: I have closed to P700 thousand while si matronang Martha exceeded my P700, 000 by preparing P1 million. Restituto Sagupa Dimagiba V, the son of the Kapitan, because of overconfidence had only a campaingn kitty of between P300, 000 to P400, 000.

ME: Did the three of you resort to vote buying? How many waves you employed to give dole outs and monies?

DIPAAWAT: Both I and Mataba compete in buying votes. Martha’s leaders exceeded their dole-outs compared to mine to the voters.

Dipaawat explained that at the middle part of the nine days campaign period he gave P200 to his 120 leaders who identified who were his sympathizers, supporters, and those voters who were with the rivals.

“Five days before bigay na ako ng grocery bag na tig P100. Laman niya one kilo na bigas, two noodles and one can of sardine (Five days before I gave dole-out of grocery bag worth P100. It was composed of kilo of rice, two packs of noodle, and one small can of sardine),” he stressed.

He said in the third wave a day before the election, he gave the same amount and items of grocery bag plus P200 per voter.

“During that year the sum I gave was already pricey before the eyes of the poor,” he quipped when I retorted that the amount was measly.

He said he got about 500 lead votes versus Martha Mataba while Restituto Sagupa Dimagiba V was a cellar dweller.

“Nasa puwitan si Resty, naligo ng alikabok sa boto na nakuha namin ni Aling Martha na matrona!”

He told me that winning an election does not depend on the hundreds of thousands or million of pesos one can buy through money and dole out.

He cited victory for the top post was a long process of transformation that took a decade or more where a bet built first a positive image before the eyes of the electorates.

“It was not an overnight affair”.

He said it was a transfiguration through ingratiation with the people.

He cited that before winning the chairmanship of Barangay Nababayaran, he was the chair of the Sanguniang Kabataan for how many years, five years as kagawad (council member), and was helping the poor by giving them sum whenever their love ones were hospitalized.

“Walang patawad itong mga mahirap, pati kuryente nila,pinapasagot pa sa akin. Pero masaya ako. Sa tanang buhay ko halos nasa pulitika na ako!” he quipped.

One of his assets that catapulted him to the village top executive post, he said, was being the alumnus of the village highschool.

 “I was a graduate of our barangay highschool where 3,000 loyal and loving alumni have been my captive voters already”.

Did you and your opponents resort to the dreaded Three Gs or Guns, Gold, and Goons as advantage in the 2010 and 2013 village elections?

His heart wrenching and nerve wracking answers will be on the Second Series of this article as we beat the countdowns for the May 14, 2018 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Election (BSKE).

READ: How Brgy Kap’s bets buy votes and win

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