Says he ain’t got even money to
buy votes
By Mortz C. Ortigoza
CALASIAO, Pangasinan – If there was a poor
mechanic who won the presidency in Ramon Magsaysay, another poor mechanic
became a punong barangay (village chief) of this Central Pangasinan village by
beating three of his moneyed opponents.
Zaldy Barbiran Bauson, 44, said
since he became a kagawad (council member) in 2013 of the more than 3,000
registered voters’s Barangay Macabito here, he had a moist eye for the top post
of the village.
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KAP, GOFER - Newly elected punong barangay (village
chairman) Zaldy B. Bauson (right) poses with his errand boy Edwin Garcia. He
said he will not appoint Edwin as Secretary or Treasurer because just like him,
the guy has a modicum of education. “I
will not even appoint him as tanod (village guard), but I’ll commission him as
my personal bodyguard,” the village chief, a poor man, who did not buy
votes last poll quipped. Bauson won the May 14 Barangay Election without even a
slate for kagawads or council members and platform. He was pitted with three rivals who were
moneyed. MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA
“Gusto ko talaga lumaban ng kapitan para tumulong (I want to aspire for
the office so I can help my village mates),” he said in the thick typical
accented Pangasinan’s dialect.
He cited that it was his hunch that
he would win even he ran as independent and without a complete slate for
council members.
“Naramdaman ko na mananalo ako. Parang God’s Will talagang mananalo
kahit independent lang ako kako,” the new barangay captain (old title of
the chief executive), whose look and demeanor is an epitome’ of the downtrodden, said.
Bauson finished
only one year auto-mechanic course at Pangasinan Merchant Marine Academy in
Dagupan City.
He cited that his
dedication to accompany his constituents to go to a provincial government
hospital in Barangay Bolingit in San Carlos City and assisted them for their
claim at the Social Security Services in Dagupan City were factors that
endeared him to the people in his barangay.
He said he was
doing this altruism for the last five years when he became a council member in
the 2013 village election.
“I said to myself because of the people I
helped and assisted in the hospital and the SSS I will try to run for public
office,” he said in Tagalog.
He cited a day
after the election that an indigent sought help from him because a kin was
hospitalized.
“P200 bigay ko kasi may tira pa ako dito.
Minsan P500. Hindi lang pera inaano ko. Serbisyo ko ng sarili, sasamahan ko
sila sa hospital kung ano ang dapat gagawin (I shelled out P200, the bills what
I had left in my wallet. I sometimes gave P500. I did not help financially but
I accompanied them to hospital so they know what to do there)”.
He vehemently
protested when asked if he bought votes and fed supporters with meals just like
other bets during the nine days campaign period before the May 14 poll.
“Ay wala! Ha, ha, ha. Ano ang ipakain ko? Pag
dito ang tropa inum lang ng gin (No! Ha ha ha. I don’t have money to feed
them.Whenever my clique were here we drink gin. We contented ourselves here
with two-by-two Marka Demonyo (slang for poor man’s gin Ginebra San Miguel)”.
During the
campaing sorties supporters of his rivals ridiculed him because he could not
shell-out sum to whet their appetites.
“Maraming nagpaparinig like Kuatro Kantos. Ay
hindi ako ganyan. May nagsasabi sa kabila mamili ganito ganito. Ayaw ko kako ha
ha ha! Kung iboto nila ako iboboto nila ako kako (Many made overtures like I
have to buy them gins. I told them I was not like that. Others told me to buy
votes. I told them I don’t like it. If they want to vote me they just vote me)”.
As a kagawad he
earned only nine thousand pesos monthly’s honorarium from the government while
he got only roughly twenty thousand pesos a month as mechanic.
He works at his
house as evident by two sedans where their engine covers have been raised and
the car’s tools and some parts of the engines sprawled in front of his dirty white painted bungalow’s front yard.
“Sometime clients could not see me here
because I was already at other places repairing other people’s vehicles”.
He said car
repair business is not lucrative regular job.
He was smarting
to this town’s mayor Joseph Arman Bauzon when he was told by the latter to run
instead as council member under re-elective Barangay Captain (popular title of
a village chief) Macmac Zulueta.
“Ay oo. Pumunta ako sa office ni mayor. Ang
kandidato nila si Macmac (Zulueta). Kaya sabi ko, akala ko ako ang e-indorse
nila (Yes, I was smarting. I went to the office of Mayor Bauzon. His candidate
was Macmac Zulueta. I told him I thought he would endorse me),” he said.
Sources said he
would be supporting comebacking mayor Mark Macanlalay in the May 13, 2019
election versus Mayor Bauzon whom he supported when Bauzon ran and won the
mayorship contest in May 9, 2016 election.
Since he did
his stumps without a platform, the new chairman said he will just follow the campaign
promises of rival Paul Baya who was the poor cellar dweller in the four cornered
contest participated by Zulueta, Aying Gabat, and Baya.
“What he promised during the campaign I will
replicate them just like the purchase of a tricycle as village patrol. I asked
also the elected council members to cooperate with me”.
Three of the
kagawads came from the ticket of Zulueta while two came from Gabat and two ran
as an independent.
Bauson would
not comment who among his rivals resorted to vote buying just to win a post
that pays eleven thousand pesos monthly from the general funds collected by the
village from the national and local governments.
This year the village has more than three million budgets in its
coffer.
VIDEO:Poor mechanic wins Barangay Kapitan race in Pangasinan
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