Cash - Awash Voters Wiped Out Resto Stocks

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

 A voter in one of the cities in Pangasinan province could not believe that during election day and the day after fast food chains like those internationally franchised Jollibee and McDonald and appliance centers had been flooded with enthusiastic customers.

“First time ganito ka dami pila ng tao na mukhang madami galing sa squatter areas.
P5,500 richers itong mga siste. Madami sila pera today,” cited by Butch Tolentino to those high spirited folks who queued in those franchised stores.

Pakurong is Pangasinan term for dole outs in cash or in kind that candidates give to voters surreptitiously in the eve of election day.
Each of the rivals for the mayorship derby gave P2,500 and P3,000 each to the delighted voters who were seen at the streets in late night of May 12 and wee hours before the May 13 election day waiting for the signal to claim their thousands of pesos through a security featured stub given by the bagmen of the candidate who wielded an ultra violet light (UVL) that checked their authenticity.

A city mayor receives roughly P120, 000 a month for a three years’ term in a public office.

Both candidates in this city are not only affluent, that is an understatement, but super rich son of a gun!

Tolentino said many of these people come from the Great Unwashed who entered for the first time these franchised fast foods that sell Spicy Chicken, Chicken and Platters, Burgers, Extra Value Meals, Fries and Mcfloat Combos, Spaghetti, and others.

“Naubos ang lahat ng benta ng McDonald except Fish-O-Filet kasi ayaw ng mga mahirap sa pangalan pa lang filet ngayon lang nila nadinig. Sabi ng mister ng taga squatter sa asawa at pitong anak nila na hila-hila huwag iyong filet baka magta-e daw sila kasi hindi sanay ang tiyan nila”

(Filet by the way is French and pronounced as Fil - ey. This is to debunk the baseless claim that it came from a bastardized Pangasinan-Tagalog words "Bakit ey" and "Ano ey" that McDonald-USA copyrighted from the Land of Princess Urduja - Author)

To those unfortunate pakurong deprived readers of this column who did not yet set their foot at the floor of McDonald, Fish-O-Filet is a fish sandwich sold by the international fast food restaurant chain.

“Pati mga lechonan ng manok at liyempo ubos parang dinaanan ng super typhoon,” a still awed Tolentino continued to narrate the incredulity he saw.

“Wala na ngang makainan sa city around 9 Pm punong puno ang mga kainan. Iyong iba wala ng ma-i-serve dahil ubos na raw. Maraming pera ang mga tao,” a lawyer who could not believe how those foods being displayed even at Dunkin Donuts were wiped out even the day after  that middle term election.
"As if a giant tsunami just gobbled them during election day and the days after!" he told me.

“Ganyan din sa Lingayen. Puno lahat ng fast food chains,” Jojo Bigay, a renowned back runner who was warming up at the oval of Narciso Ramos Sports & Civic Center while munching a Fish-O-Filet Hamburger, posted at Facebook.

Tolentino cited a garbage man who used his five thousand pesos as down payment for a motorcycle and a side car so he can use it to ply even during nighttime for extra income.

If Candidates A and B gave P3,000 and P2,500 to each of the 50,000 voters that would be P150 million and P125 million, respectively,  or a total of P275 million that circulated in the economy of the city.

There were more than 90,000 voters in this local government unit who voted in the most expensive election people in Northern Luzon had ever witness.

This columnist did not include here the average of  P1,400 from the P1,800 and P1,000 the duo gave in cash and kind like countless kilos of rice, can goods, and others a few weeks before the day of reckoning to each of the grateful voters.   

Tolentino said that even the branches of Jollibee and McDonald in the nearby towns reeled  with shortages of supplies because their hamburger buns have to frantically been sent to their counterparts in this city.

 “Iyong isang mayor doon ang bigayan sa voter ay P2000. Kasama na doon ang vice mayor, governor, vice governor, and a board member,” he said about the “pakurong” that wiped out too the supplies there.

An exiting first class town mayor, who did not want to be identified, told me that he was outwitted by the opponent backed by a moneyed provincial politico when he and his men gave P2,000 per voter for his mayoralty bet two days before the D-Day while the rival flood the town with P3,000 per voter.

“Mga P100 million ang ginastos ng kalaban while we spent more than P70 million,” he told me shaking his head about the blunder he made on a position that gives only P100 thousand a month for a three years term for the holder. 

“We could not compete with the opponent, they have dozens of goons riding on motorcycles intimidating the voters and our leaders”.

A mayoralty bet, who asked for anonymity, in a first class town in Central Pangasinan told this newspaper that he was short of funds a few days before the poll after he spent tens of millions of pesos for vote buying of one thousand pesos for each of his voters.

He lost in that poll because some of his leaders where he gave the monies a week before the election for distribution pocketed the sum or absconded bringing, susmariosep, those funds.
His opponent, a big time contractor, bought each of the voters for P2,000 inclusive already of the money from the gubernatorial bet and his party.
Just like the mayor who spent P70 million, the poor hizzoner told me he soldiered on because his short of funds gubernatorial candidate gave only P200 per voter. 

Tolentino cited that even in malls you can see a lot of people buying flat screen television and air condition machine.

“Iyong isa doon split type ang binili na aircon. Siguro leader iyon ng mayor na binulsa ang ibang pakurong sa mga voters”.

When asked by this writer if he saw a voter bought a 1.5  - ton air conditioned system  or what we called in slang as “tonner”, he begged he did not see one.

“Baka sa ibang appliance center,” he quipped.

During the election, queuing voters at a public high school in the city complained that a leader of a mayoralty bet gave only P3000 in a household composed of five voters.

“Hindi namin binoto iyong kandidato. Masama ang loob namin kasi sa kabilang barangay ang bigayan ay P3000 kada isa bakit dito kada bahay”.

He cited the names of those leaders to this writer.

He computed that if the leader did not give P3000 to each of the 100 voters, he was P300,000 richer where he could pay the down payment for a brand new car.

Many of these leaders have been seen riding in new mini cars and motorcycles that they probably bought in installment basis for the four-wheel and cash for the two-wheel using the monies they stole from their patron.

Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon admitted that vote buying incidents in this year’s polls were worse than the 2016 elections.

She also noted that the amount of bribe in exchange for votes has enormously spiked.