With the barangay elections fast approaching, the Caloocan City government is investigating reports of poll aspirants devising a scheme wherein residents are given cash and then told to use some of it to buy National Food Authority (NFA) rice in stores outside the city.
City government officials said they learned about the scheme on Thursday after residents of Barangay 30 reported it to the village leaders.
In a press conference called by City Hall late Friday, one of the residents, Efren Cabal, said he was roused from sleep at home around 4 a.m. that day.
“There were many people outside, and somebody announced that we would be given money, but they wouldn’t tell who was giving it. It was supposed to be a secret,” he recalled.
Cabal said he saw about a hundred more people gathered on Dimasalang Street. They were told to sign on a sheet of paper and were promised P500 each—but were only handed P300.
They were then told to go to Marulas public market in neighboring Valenzuela City to buy NFA rice there. They were shuttled to that market in groups of 20 in jeepneys.
“They told us the specific store where we should buy rice. Even just three kilos would do. They said if the vendors asked why we were buying there, we should answer that there was no NFA rice available in Caloocan. They also told us not to say that we were from the same group.”
Once they arrived at the market, Cabal said, someone from the group who gave them money monitored them and again told them to buy only from the stores specified. They then got back to their barangay on their own.
“When we returned, our team leader handed us the remaining P200 that was part of the promised money. We only had to sign the paper, and nothing else was asked. They knew who bought rice from the designated stores, and only those who did it were given the balance,” he said.
Who’s behind it?
Cabal and the other recipients learned afterwards through word of mouth that five men aspiring for positions in the Oct. 28 barangay elections were behind the scheme. He identified them as Efren Co, Tomas Divina, Bong Acosta, Ron Manalang and a “Professor Echaure.”
The Commission on Elections has set Oct. 11-17 as the period for the filing of certificates of candidacy in the barangay and Sanguniang Kabataan polls. The campaign period is from Oct. 18 to 26.
Incumbent Barangay 30 chair Wilfredo Gagarin found the scheme puzzling and suspicious, noting that there is a market near his barangay that sells NFA rice.
“We still haven’t determined the motive for this scheme. What we know is that the organizers were looking for 1,000 people to sign up. They (the organizers) claimed to have been sent by these local politicians who are reportedly planning to run in the barangay elections. I think they only got around 500 people,” he said.
Caloocan City legal officer Michael Caminia said the local government had launched an investigation together with the NFA.
“At the outset, there seems to be nothing wrong or illegal about what they are doing. However, it is highly suspicious,” he said, when asked if it could be considered a form of vote-buying well ahead of the campaign period.
“I mean, why would the organizers, who were allegedly sent by these people planning to run in the elections, give people money at that time of the day, get their names and signatures, and tell them to buy NFA rice in Valenzuela City?” Caminia added.
Bobby Quintin of the NFA’s legal department, who was sent to Caloocan to look into the incident, said the rice supply in the country remained adequate. He also belied reports earlier last week that the NFA was giving away free rice.
He noted that the Barangay 30 incident was similar to those reported to his agency in Manila and Quezon City, but said the motive for this could be deeper than the upcoming barangay elections.
“In my opinion, I think this is a diversionary tactic to draw the media and the people’s attention from the pork barrel scam. This could be directed to us because we serve many nongovernment organizations and farmers’ organizations. We need to find out who is behind this,” Quintin said.