2 San Juan residents charge Zamora with vote-buying

Francis Zamora

Two San Juan City residents have accused defeated mayoral candidate Francis Zamora of engaging in vote-buying to get signatures for a recall petition filed by his supporters against Mayor Guia Gomez.

Lucila Robles and Veradel Surmieda filed a complaint against Zamora in the Commission of Elections office in Intramuros, Manila, on Monday.

The women alleged that Zamora, who served as Gomez’s vice mayor before they parted ways due to political differences, committed election offenses while collecting signatures for the recall petition.

“Zamora’s [offer] of financial assistance and cash in exchange for signing the recall petition is against the Omnibus Election Code and is a form of undue influence and vote-buying,” they said.

The petition for a recall election was filed last week by Zamora’s supporters led by defeated city councilor bet Sophia Gil. They accused Gomez of “graft and corruption, incompetence, abuse of power and dereliction of duty.” The petition was signed by 30,000 residents.

Robles and Surmieda claimed that they had been recipients of educational assistance from Zamora’s office for years.

Guia Gomez

However, from July to August 2016, Zamora’s staff started screening beneficiaries to ensure that they were his supporters, they added.

Both women claimed that some applicants were made to sign the recall petition before their request for educational assistance could be processed.

Sought for comment, Zamora, who is currently out of the country, denied the allegations against him.

“Who had the capacity to buy votes, who had the capacity to intimidate the voters of San Juan? Not me but the incumbent,” he told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

Zamora added that they did not require beneficiaries of financial assistance to sign the petition. “We don’t have biases against nonsupporters. We just need the minimum requirements: that the student is a resident and enrolled in the current semester.” —WITH DEXTER CABALZA