Siloy photo of Wakee caught unexpected lunch guest

I WAS interviewing two sources in Parkmall at the Mandaue Reclamation Area  over lunch in the restaurant Shabu Way on Saturday Sept. 22.

A few minutes after we ordered food , a man  in  a  a red polo shirt entered. He was headed to another part of the restaurant but went to our table after one of my sources called his attention.

They shook hands and he pulled a chair to join us. I didn’t know he was Rex ‘Wakee’ Salud until I was introduced by my source as a correspondent of Cebu Daily News.

Salud laughed and said, “Basin ma media ta ani (I may  get reported in the media)”. After a brief chat in our table, Salud went out while  talking to someone on his cellphone.

Two men wearing gray and yellow T-shirts entered the restaurant and sat in a nearby table.   Salud joined them.

I didn’t recognize his companions but I used my iPhone to take a photo of Salud and and his lunch party.

When I showed the photo of Salud later in the newsroom, a fellow reporter  called my attention and identified  one of the lunch guests  as  Marchel Sarno, election officer of Cebu City’s north district.

During  the Oct. 5  deadline of filing COCs,  I asked  a Mandaue election officer about  the lunch I recently witnessesd.  She  said eating out with a candidate is not prohibited per se, but as much as possible Comelec officials should not  give “tips” or advice to political figures who have a pending case.

Salud filed his Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for mayor of Cordova  last Thursday, accompanied by hundreds of his supporters.