Using people

Soon after last Wednesday’s rally at the Capitol in support of suspended Cebu governor Gwendolyn Garcia, reports surfaced that participants were paid to join the gathering.

A Cebu columnist cited a source who said that a participant got at least P75 to serve as a warm body.

Meanwhile, some protesters who were interviewed after the event through the absence of zest in their answers all but confirmed they were just props in a political game.

Even in the halls of the academe, talk is rife of how a crowd, made up mostly of hometown idlers, is made to mass anywhere through the offer of food.

Garcia’s camp has vehemently denied bringing a paid crowd to the area outside the Capitol. Whether or not they did, let the rest of the Cebuanos judge for themselves.

At issue is the impropriety of using people to make emphatic political statements, something that will occur with greater frequency as midterm election campaigning gains momentum.

The tactic has been employed even before the official start of the local campaign period.

The editorial staff of Cebu Daily News noticed that in Cebu City, people are led to small meetings or “pulong-pulong” by politicians not purely by word of mouth but by the lure of prizes to be raffled off.

Last week, supporters of Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan were made to rise very early in the morning in barangay Tisa where, among other things, they plastered stickers bearing the names of the party’s candidates on the concrete fences of residents.

To what extent are the actions of these so-called supporters of politicians the fruit of informed decisions?

Would they go to a rally if they had known that it is not official business and that they would be transported to the venue in an unlawful manner, that is, on vehicles reserved for official use?

Would they go to a rally if they had been given jobs and were made aware that they ought not to abandon their posts?

Would they paste campaign stickers anywhere if they were informed that strictly speaking they are violating rules set in place by the Commission on Elections?

Would they accept food if they knew that it could potentially be bought using money from public coffers?

It is sad to see that many people are made to join the bandwagon by politicians who take advantage of their naivete.

It is sadder still to see politicians work so hard to create the impression of having a huge following that loves them well.

This only betrays their lack of confidence that there was any service they rendered that truly empowered people, so that the latter do not have to be prompted to stand for them when they are beleaguered or need support for reelection.