By Mortz Ortigoza, MPA
Election for Kap in this city is for the moneyed. Eight days before the village election a candidate for the top post had distributed one kilo of lechon (yes Virginia, the yummy roasted pig) to each of the houses of his electorates.
If there are 4,000 voters in the village, I divide them into the five voting members of the nuclear family.
If the businessman candidate gave P25,000 campaign fund to each of his nine candidates for the council and the head of the samahang kabataan (youth group) since the start of the campaign in October 19, that's P225, 000!
If the moneyed bet buy votes in the eve of the election - we Pangasinense called pakurong or gapang in Tagalog because it's effin' illegal - at P500, that's P2 million that will circulate in the local economy.
If the top candidate heeds the famous local phrase: Gulatin mo ang mga bobotante, este, botante Kap bigyan mo kada isa ng tig isang libo!
That P1000 translates to P4 million to a post that gives him P25, 000 monthly in his two years term. Three years term will return on the 2025 election according to the Supreme Court.
Now, let's compute how a Kap's bet win an election if he subscribes to "huwag mong gulatin ang mga nagbebenta ng boto (boto in Tagalog not the boto the gays in the Ilonggo community use):
P560, 000 (lechon)
P225,000 (campaign funds of the members of the Council)
P2,000, 000 (for vote buying)
______________________________
P2, 785, 000
How about if the village chief's bet heeds the aphorism: Gulatin mo Kap ang mga bobotante at bigyan mo kada isa ng tig isang libo!
That would be a whopping P4, 785, 000 to a two years post that gives a measly P650, 000 pay.
So why the candidate spends this much? My dear readers, please post your reply below this post.
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