TO get an unenthusiastic crowd to roar, Liberal Party officials in North Cotabato were seen bribing audiences with envelopes—presumably filled with cash—just to cheer for administration candidate for president Manuel Roxas II, who made the rounds in the province on March 30.
A two-minute video, uploaded by Kutangbato Vlogger through Facebook, showed an unenthusiastic crowd in Pikit, North Cotabato, practicing the chants “Roxas na, Oras na!” to prepare for his visit.
Roxas earlier in the day met with the central committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat, where he signed a peace covenant.
An emcee, who was not satisfied with the performance of the crowd, warned the crowd consisting of local officials and beneficiaries of the 4Ps government dole program who gathered at the Pikit Municipal Gymnasium that they would not be given their envelopes if they did not cheer well for Roxas.
“The chant is weak here, you won’t get your envelope,” the emcee said in Filipino as he coached the crowd. “It’s also weak in the back—you won’t get your envelopes either.”
“I want to hear it from here up to up there,” he added. “We all have to chant together.”
The edited video also showed the crowd practicing the chant “Mabuhay ang Liberal Party!”
In another part of the two-minute video, a woman who was asked who the administration candidate’s wife was responded “Ms. Korina Sanchez.”
“The board of judges said that’s correct,” the emcee said, then gave an envelope to the woman wearing an abaya, a Muslim garment that covers the entire body.
“Every correct answer gives you an envelope,” he added.
Another woman who answered correctly was given another envelope.
Roxas’ visit to Pikit town came days before the bloody dispersal of hungry farmers who were demanding government food aid amid a five-month drought brought about by the El Niño phenomenon in nearby Kidapawan City, North Cotabato on April 1.
The Standard tried to reach the Roxas camp for comment.
Also on Sunday, a fishermens group lambasted Roxas and his running mate, Leni Robredo, for using fishermen and farmers as political pawns for the coming elections.
On April 15, the LP convened almost 5,000 farmers and fishermen in Pasay City to enlist their support for the administration candidates, saying the straight path was the way for genuine rural development.
But Pamalakaya said they would not support the LP or Roxas, who had inflicted more hardships on the poor.
“Mar Roxas is delusional… for thinking that he will get support from the sectors that suffered from the fantasies of Daang Matuwid,” Salvador France, Pamalakaya vice chairman, said in a statement.
“Pamalakaya said that Roxas is acting like he has done anything to improve the agriculture and fisheries sector. The fact is he and his ilk are the number one implementers of policies and programs that are detrimental to the interests of farmers and fishers,” France said. With Sandy Araneta