Urban poor groups deny claim they back Rama

“We are not supporting him (Mayor Michael Rama), but we are supporting his opponent Tomas Osmeña.”

Marlyn Paracueles, Alliance of Barangay Apas Community Associations (Abaca) president, yesterday made this statement after an urban poor group included them in a list of Team Rama endorsers.

“Why would they claim that we are supporting Team Rama?” Paracueles asked.

Paracueles was referring to last Saturday’s press briefing of four urban poor groups led by the Urban Poor Solidarity Federation (UPS-Fed) where Abaca was included as among the groups backing Team Rama.

UPS-Fed and the Nasudnong Katawhang Kabus (Nakabus) endorsed Team Rama during the briefing.

not members

Paracueles said Abaca attended Saturday’s conference organized by UPS-Fed, but they were not there to back Team Rama.

“We are not members of UPS-Fed. They don’t have the right to say that Abaca is supporting Team Rama. Abaca in the first place is not a member of UPS-Fed,” Paracuelles said in Cebuano yesterday at the group’s Pagtambayayong office.

Abaca is a member of the the Urban Poor Alliance (UPALL)-Cebu city chapter. The alliance also confirmed Abaca’s stand.

Abaca is made up of eight community associations in barangay Apas, who occupy a 32 hectare lot, which was then a military reservation. In June 2003, the lot was declared as Socialized Housing Program (SHP) site by former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The group has 1,200 members.

“Although we have that number, I can’t claim that  100 percent of them are supporting the BO-PK,” she said.

But she emphasized, “As a group, we have a collective decision to support BO-PK.”

“We have always been supporting BO-PK kay si Mayor Tommy has always been supportive of our needs. We can’t be proclaimed as part of SHP without his help,” Paracuelles said.

12,000 MEMBER-VOTERS

UPALL president Rodrigo Buhawe, also said that the group was for BO-PK.

Buhawe claimed that UPALL has 40,000 members and 12,000 of these number are  registered voters.

“Based on experience mas bug-at ang amo votes kay nakapadaog man mi ni Nida Cabrera and Alvin Dizon sa 2010. So there’s power of the group,” Buhawe said./Correspondent Tweeny M. Malinao