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.