Estranged relatives because of election

Last of Three Parts Series Articles

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Even cousins have been alienated with each other in the 2013 barangay (village) election in Barangay Nabayaran somewhere in Luzon.

In the 8,000 vote - rich Barangay, former village chairperson Philip Crisostomo Dipaawat blamed Restituto Crisostomo Torrero for his second narrow votes defeat by incumbent Kapitan Roberto Dimagiba when he got 2,500 votes versus Dimagiba’s 2,900 votes.

He cited that in that electoral exercise he got P2 million he chipped in with his parent and kin while cousin Torrero, Mayor’s pet bet Gerry Dakuykoy, and reelectionist Kapitan (chairman) Dimagiba had P3 million, P1 million, and P1million, respectively.

Dimagiba said that in the second wave of the vote buying spree he and his leaders were doling out P200 per voter while his cousin and the chairman gave P300 to win the loyalty of each of the vulnerable voters.

But his P2 million did not salvage his previous loss to Dimagiba and did not do justice to reclaim his old post he lost to the present kapitan in 2010 because of his cousin.

“Itong si Torrero ang masakit kasi second degree cousin ko  ito. Ang lolo namin magkapatid. Kasi lolo nito dating barangay captain. Ang rason niya gusto niyang sundan ang yapak ng lolo niya,” he stressed.

Dipaawat said two months before the October 28, 2013 election the clan had an assembly to elect who would be their standard bearer.

“Tinalo ko siya. Nag concedes and then nag pledged ng support and he encouraged his family to support me”.

But the supposed pledged of support was only for a week as Torrero was seen giving monies to his house callers.

“He wanted to run for Kap, too,” Dipaawat sadly said.

He cited the clan became divided because of the village race.

“Grabe, grabe, grabe masakit ito. Nag away  away ang pamilya diyan ang nanay ko  at ang nanay niya”.

Dipaawat said their clan is the richest clan in Nabayaran.

 He said that both of them cousins compete ingratiating with the voters in the numbers of the recipients of their monies.

That poll saw Dimagiba, Dakuykoy, and Dipaawat in a tight contest won by Dimagiba.

“Maliit lang ang gap namin ni Dimagiba mga almost 400 votes”.

A supporter of Dipaawat said that with the more than 1,000 votes garnered by Torrero, his non-presence in the poll would mean a Dipaawat victory.

He said that during the stumps, Torio mercilessly attacked him in his speeches and not the present Kapitan who is his fraternity brother.

“We suspected that Dimagiba convinced him to run against me to divide the votes of our clan”.

Despite the scar left by the last election, Dipaawat did not care how Torrero and his kin estimated at him.

When asked if he and his opponents commissioned goons to strike fears in the minds of their supporters and voters, Dipaawat said:

“Dimagiba have goons from Central Pangasinan and Abra. He hired a known killer a former policeman who came from Ilocos”.

I got my own goons while Dacuycuy had the police because he was supported by the mayor.

“Iyong pinsan ko walang goons pero may P3 million pang bili ng boto”.

 (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)