Goodies from bets flood Dagupan
DAGUPAN CITY—It’s raining grocery items and rice in this city, with political candidates wooing voters with bags of goodies as Election Day nears.
On Tuesday, a family here received four stubs from a supporter of a mayoral candidate. This meant the family was entitled to four grocery bags that contained 2 kilograms of rice, two tins of sardines and packs of instant noodles. The stubs were to be redeemed from a former village chief here.
“Dagupan residents do not have to buy rice for at least a week,” said a supporter of a local candidate.
Some grocery bags contain up to 3 kg of rice and if a family has five voters, that means 15 kg of rice from one candidate alone in one “wave,” the supporter said.
A “wave” means the time when a candidate’s supporters distribute grocery bags to voters in a village, with candidates doing at least three “waves” during the campaign period.
“Some rice vendors have complained that they no longer are able to sell rice,” the supporter said.
Families of the city’s mayoral candidates—reelectionist Mayor Benjamin Lim (Nacionalista Party) and outgoing Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez (Liberal Party)—own chains of supermarkets in Pangasinan and other provinces in the Ilocos.
But a resident said even some supporters of candidates for councilors are distributing grocery bags.
The resident interviewed by the Inquirer said some candidates have asked their supporters to take photographs of voters and print these on the stubs, with a note that only the ones in the photographs can redeem the rice and grocery items.
A candidate, who asked not to be named, complained how campaign methods have changed through the years.
“You have to go down to the family level. In the past, you have political leaders or village heads who are in charge of campaigning for you. You gave them money and it was up to them,” the candidate said.
