LUCENA CITY -- A Quezon board member assailed Governor Rafael Nantes for the purchase of P30 million in videoke machines for distribution to different villages in the province, saying the move was insensitive to the plight of provincial government workers seeking salary hikes and farmers threatened by severe drought.

Board Member Vicente Alcala said the distribution of videoke machines smacked of wrong timing as provincial workers had long been asking for 25 percent in salary increases.

He said the purchase of the machines, confirmed by provincial finance officers during a budget committee hearing last week, was not in the proposed budget for 2010.

Alcala said the distribution of the music machines was part of Nantes?s reelection campaign strategy.

The controversial machines show videos of different projects under the Nantes administration instead of the conventional beautiful scenery and sexy models.

Nantes? slogan, ?Pilipinas, Quezon Naman!? is on the machines, which were painted red, the governor?s campaign color.

The governor defended the videoke machine project and refuted political motives.

He said funds for the purchase were in the 2009 budget.

Alcala, however, said he could not remember any item in last year?s budget for the machines.

?It?s a waste of people?s money,? he said.

?The videoke machines were requested by barangay captains,? said Nantes at an interview Sunday.

Former Quezon Gov. Eduardo Rodriguez, one of Nantes?s economic consultants, said the village heads will earn from the rent of the videoke machines.

The province has 1,242 villages.

Politicians resort to all sorts of gimmicks during election season, among them hanging streamers with all kinds of greetings such as Happy Valentines, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year with their faces prominently displayed on the materials.

Some politicians are so brazen they put up billboards on highways, like the ones put up by a family of politicians in Cebu.

Others resort to gift-giving during village or town feasts.

Organizers of some of the most prominent festivals in the country, like the Panagbenga of Baguio City, had to lay down rules to prevent politicians from using their celebrations to campaign.

The Commission on Elections has been soft on illegal campaigns, with no prominent candidate ever getting punished for violating campaign rules. Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon