UNFAIR GAME. Vice Mayor Canlas (left) and Labung expose the alleged illegal padding of voters’ list.
Photo by Ric Gonzales
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – “It’s scary but we will fight for the truth to let the legitimate people of Bacolor vote in 2013.”
Thus said Bacolor Vice Mayor Ananais “Jun” Canlas as he and his former running-mate exposed the alleged existence of at least 7,000 “flying voters” in the town’s voters’ list and applicants barely nine months before the next local elections.
Bacolor had at least 40,000 registered voters in 2010, it was learned.
In a press conference here on Sunday, Canlas and former 3rd District Board Member Ferdinand Labung said they fought against the questionable voters’ list in 2010, adding that at least 5,000 people “are not real or legitimate residents of our town then.”
Labung said the lack of time and amount involved in the process of cleansing the voters’ lists had prevented them from pursuing their case.
He added that they needed at least P2,000 per person or P10 million for the disqualification of illegally registered voters then.
Labung said “some people benefited from the padding of votes in 2010 and I and the vice mayor are here to make sure that the list be cleared of fake and flying voters this time around.”
“I am not a sore loser. But I want a fair fight. Anybody, including I, could have won in the 2010 elections if the list of voters was purged,” said Labung in mixed Tagalog and Capampangan.
“The good people of Bacolor, not strangers, deserve to choose their own leaders,” added Labung, former village chief of Barangay San Antonio, Bacolor.
Labung placed third in the four-way fight won by Mayor Jose Maria “Jomar” Hizon, son of prominent businesswoman Lolita Hizon of Pampanga’s Best.
Canlas, on the other hand, was proclaimed vice mayor after winning by nine votes over his closest rival during the first automated elections in 2010.
OLD TACTICS
Asked for his comments, Hizon said “my political enemies are resorting to old and customary tactics and it appears that they are bankrupt of ideas.”
“Matagal nang kumita ang ganyan style (That style has longed reaped harvest). Modern technology na ngayon (is used nowadays),”said Hizon in statements sent via SMS txt message.
Canlas said there “is nothing personal or political involved in this expose.” He added that he has “good working relationship with the mayor.”
“My small lead in 2010 could be bigger this time if we will ask for the removal of illegal voters,” said Canlas.
It could be recalled that Hizon won by at least 3,200 votes against Ron Earvin Dungca, son of former three-term Mayor Romeo “Buddy” Dungca. The elder Dungca earlier announced he will run for mayor next year.
Labung said Hizon led by more than 5,000 votes over him. Former Vice Mayor Diman Datu was fourth in the race.
Canlas and Labung stressed to reporters that they are “not naming yet the culprits in the illegal registration of voters since 2010 because we are still investigating.”
“But if we have enough evidence we will charge them regardless of who they are,” vowed Labung, an engineer and contractor.
Labung appealed to residents to be “more vigilant amid bigger threats to democracy and truth.” He also cited that the registration of voters will resume on August 1.
LEGAL ACTION
Canlas, lawyer and former two-term Bacolor mayor, said he was allowed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc to get hold of copies of questionable voters applications.
“I was probably the first to be given copies in the whole country by the Comelec en banc after I raised the issue,” said Canlas, one-time Pampanga gubernatorial candidate.
He added that “anytime in August we will file before the Comelec the petition for the exclusion of the names we are questioning.”
Canlas showed three copies of voters’ registration forms bearing different names. He alleged that “only one person wrote on the three forms when it is required by law that an applicant should fill up his respective form.”
‘WRONG MISTAKE’
The lawyer-vice mayor also cited an applicant for voter registration in Bacolor who had applied for a driver’s license and put his address in nearby Guagua, Pampanga.
“He applied as Bacolor resident and voter two months after applying for license early this year. He is disqualified because the law requires that you should be living in a place for at least six months before you become a qualified voter,” added Canlas in explaining the illegal manner by which the Guagua resident had applied as Bacolor voter.
Canlas said some of the registration forms “displayed non-Bacolor residents.” He added the name of their town was “City of Bacolor” in some forms.
‘If you are really from Bacolor, you know it’s not a city. Maybe they were referring to City of San Fernando and they are from there,” said Canlas.
Canlas said many of their voters and residents are living in various resettlements areas in Pampanga, including the Madapdap Resettlement Center (MRC) in Mabalacat City. He added that least 32,000 came out to vote two years ago.
He said several Bacolor residents, including himself, had been displaced by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991 and its lahar flows, notably the tragic incident in 1995 when Barangay Cabalantian was buried.
At least 80 percent of some 100,000 population of Bacolor are living outside the town, town officials said earlier.
“We are not talking about our displaced brothers and sisters. The force of nature made them live elsewhere.
We are referring to people who had just come to live in Bacolor or those not living at all in our town,” said Canlas.
He added that some of the illegal registrants are from Mindanao.
“We have high respect for our brothers and sisters from Mindanao. We are just stating their place of origin.
What we are saying is that they are being used illegally for the selfish interests of a few people.” said Canlas.
“You are most welcome to live in Bacolor but at least follow the rules on residency before applying as voter,” added Canlas.
‘HOUSE ARREST’
Labung and Canlas also exposed “a new tactic” to win in an election. It was done in Bacolor in 2010.
They said “illegal registrants and some legitimate ones were asked to stay one to two days before the elections “in a big place and were not allowed to leave.”
Then they were brought as early as 4:00 a.m. to various barangays and polling areas on election day.
“The long lines so early in the morning made real Bacolor residents skip casting their votes,” said Labung.
Canlas branded the illegal but effective tactics employed in 2010 elections as “cural,” a term used by Capampangans for animal cages, notably pigs.
Labung urged all concerned officials and residents, including Mayor Hizon, to help in cleaning the voters’ list of illegal names.
“It’s so rewarding and peaceful to win in a fair and clean fight. I raised not just my two arms but two feet to winners in 2010. But our people deserve an honest and orderly election next time,” said Labung.
