Carmen councilor is new Bohol PCL president
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Vote-buying?
EXCEPT FOR the office of the executive vice president which was hotly contested, the election for presidency of the Philippine Councilors’ League, Bohol chapter last Friday was anti-climactic as Carmen municipal councilor Ramonito “Monching” Torrefranca won unopposed.
City councilor Leonides Borja who was touted earlier to contest the presidency surprisingly withdrew his bid.
When asked why he withdrew, Borja said he opted to yield the presidency to Torrefranca “to maintain party unity.”
Also elected as executive vice president was Ariel Lungay of Catigbian who was pitted against Loay councilor Tony Supanga.
Lungay got a total vote of 298 as against Supanga’s 94.
Of the 14 bets, only eight topped the election to compose the board of directors.
They are councilors Felix Tan, who got 220 votes; Constancio Atuel, 209; Jescelo Adiong of Loay, 190; Danilo Cal, 182; Leonides Borja, 175; Danilo Bandala of Corella, 152; Nicomedes Tago, 124 and Carmen Jaminal of G-Hernandez, 117.
Other uncontested officers-elect are councilors Calixto Garcia of Valencia vice-president for external affairs; Nimfa Lloren of Jagna, VP for internal affairs; Bernard Lansang of Balilihan, VP for 1st district; Ranie Torregosa, VP for 2nd dist; and Julieta Senen Tan of Alicia, VP for 3rd district.
Councilor Ephraim Licayan of Guindulman was secretary-general; Renato Villaber of Tubigon, deputy secretary-general; Ricky Masamayor, treasurer; Manuel Gara, assistant treasurer; Teodoro Ruizol of Calape, auditor; Victoriano Dellosa, assistant auditor; Cesar Cagulada of Jagna, business manager; Jose Allan Tinaja, assistant business manager; and councilors Asterio Coquilla, Vicente Auza and Antonio Po (Candijay), public relations officers for 1st, 2nd and 3rd districts, respectively.
Many PCL members expressed surprise when Loay councilor Tony Supanga suddenly decided to run for executive vice president against Ariel Lungay.
When interviewed, Lungay said he suspected former PCL president and now provincial board member Brigido Imboy to be behind Supanga’s candidacy.
Lungay said Imboy was displeased over his crusade to subject the PCL’s coffers to financial audit.
Another source who requested anonymity said many PCL members suspected Imboy to be behind Supanga’s candidacy to bring down Lungay.
“Supanga was made to run to bring down the candidacy of Lungay and prevent him from pursuing his crusade for accountability on financial matters of the league,” the source lamented.
The source said that Imboy and his wife allegedly campaigned for Supanga and were openly distributing P100 bills stapled in sample ballot with “bold” letter printed with the name of Supanga while the voting was going on.
More determined than ever, Lungay said that he would vigorously pursue his crusade to scrutinize the financial status of the league because this was not done in the past PCL administration.
He said he wanted the amounts of P460,000 from the national PCL and the P180,000 accrued to the league in the past administration of Imboy to be accounted so that the members would know the real score.
City councilor Borja, who earlier announced he would contest Torrefranca, was reportedly forced out of the race because he did not have enough campaign kitty to “buy” votes of the 482 strong member of the league.
PCL reliable sources said Borja would not confirm nor deny the alleged vote buying. Instead he told the media that he pulled out of the race for “unity’s sake.”
Each councilor who voted in the election received at least PhP1,000 apiece, said the source. But it was not confirmed how many did really receive the amount.
To the surprise of most members, who thought only the presidency was likely to be contested, Supanga was pitted against Lungay.
Some of the PCL members are convinced that Lungay’s candidacy was “deliberately” contested upon to stop him from pursuing his crusade for accountability on financial matters of the league.
In an interview, Lungay said he also suspected that the immediate past president has allegedly dipped his finger to bring him down from the race.
The source said that the past president and his wife did the “lantaran” or openly distributing of the money (PhP100 peso bills) stapled in sample ballot with “bold” letter printed with the name of Supanga while the voting was going on.
Lungay said that he will still pursue his crusade in scrutinizing the financial status of the league because this was not done in the past PCL administration. He said he wanted that the amounts of PhP460,000 from the national PCL and the PhP180,000 accrued to the league the past term must be accounted for so that the members would know the real score.
