Election 2013

COMELEC: TROPHIES, PRIZES ARE ALSO VOTE-BUYING

CANDIDATES were warned anew not to give prizes and trophies for sports tournaments lest they be charged for “prohibited solicitation”, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) provincial office said yesterday.

“Anything of value that would be given to the candidate  is is prohibited because that is vote-buying in the guise of donations,” Comelec provincial officer Ferdinand Gujilde said.

Gujilde said anyone can report these activities to the Comelec  office.

He also reminded incumbent officials that barangay halls should not be used as a common poster area.

“The candidates must make a separate structure in the foregrounds of the barangay hall so they post on it because a barangay hall is a government property,” he said. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus

POE BATS FOR LUNCH FOR STUDENTS PROGRAM

NUTRITIOUS lunch meals for students in all public elementary schools top  the legislative agenda of Liberal Party (LP) senatorial candidate Grace Poe, if elected on May 13.

“Students of  public schools need food as support,” Poe told reporters in Cebu over the weekend.

She said there was a similar program before in the ‘70s.

Poe pledged to support  farmers in order to produce cheap and nutrititious food for  Filipinos and to ensure the security of tenure of  workers.

She said many workers remain hired on contractual basis even after several years.

Poe said companies need only one year to assess a worker’s capabilities and afterwards should be given a permanent position.

Poe also promised to prioritize needs of Cebu if Cebuanos  trust her enough to vote for her.  Reporter Jucell Marie P. Cuyos

SIGN WAIVER OF SECRECY, CHIZ TELLS BETS

Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero urged voters to require candidates to execute an unconditional waiver of secrecy of bank deposits so they would make informed choices on Election Day.

He issued the call to Filipino voters a day after issuing a challenge to government officials and candidates to execute the waivers together with their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

“Candidates in the coming elections without exception should make public their financial records going by the dictum that working in government is a privilege and not a right,” Escudero said.

Escudero said he will re-file Senate Bill 107 or the Submission of Waiver of Bank Deposits bill amid the impeachment trial of former chief justice Renato Corona, who issued a waiver on the secrecy of his bank accounts.

The waiver authorizes the Ombudsman to open bank accounts for scrutiny of government agencies like the Anti-Money Laundering Council. Correspondent Renan Alangilan

NEW GOV’T CENTER SOUGHT FOR CONSOLACION

A NEW government service center should be built to accommodate the growing  population and number of businesses in Consolacion town, re-electionist Rep. Luis Gabriel “Luigi” Quisumbing of Cebu’s 6th district said yesterday.

“Definitely, we  have to look for  ways to expand the government infrastructure in Consolacion to be more responsive to the needs of the citizens,” Quisumbing said.

He said the Consolacion municipal government plans to expand its municipal hall which he described as “not much bigger than a house.”

Quisumbing’s predecessor Nerissa Soon-Ruiz and former Consolacion mayor Avelino Gungob opposed building a new government center.  Gungob said it would  only aggravate traffic congestion in the area.

The Consolacion Sports Complex was demolished to allow construction of a six-story government center.

“We have to build more infrastructure after two malls were built in the town,” Quisumbing said. Reporter Jucell Marie P. Cuyos