“Kambing Diplomacy” for peaceful election
TAYUG–Share pinapaitan, have peace.
Senior Superintendent Percival Barba, the police provincial director, has initiated a new scheme called “Kambing Diplomacy” to help promote a peaceful campaign period and orderly elections on May 10.
Under the “Kambing Diplomacy”, candidates are encouraged to talk and work out issues among themselves over a bowl of hot pinapaitan, a popular goat dish.
The first to adopt Barba’s idea are local political rivals in Tayug who forged a peace covenant Thursday last week and celebrated the event with a sharing of pinapaitan as a symbol of a new kind of camaraderie.
Tayug is among the 15 towns and cities in the watchlist of the Philippine National Police and the Commission on Elections for potential “hotspots” in the coming election.
Chief Inspector Bingo de Asis, installed as the new town police chief during the same event, told The PUNCH it was a very successful initiative for the campaign for violence-free elections.
Those who signed the peace covenant were re-electionist Mayor Carlos Trese Mapili and his running mate Madelyn Cabotaje Ramirez of the Nationalist People’s Coalition; Atty. Magda Erfe and her running mate Patricia Velasco Cruz of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD; and Vicente Abobo, incumbent Barangay Captain of Lawak, Tayug; and his running mate Janet Zaragoza of the Liberal Party.
The candidates of the three political parties for other local positions also signed the accord.
Before the signing, goats were slaughtered as a form of ritual, similar to the cañao tradition practiced in Baguio, Benguet and other parts of the Cordillera Region when a peace pact is sealed between and among tribes.
All the candidates, who held hands together in a prayer led by Rev. Father Numeriano Gabot, also pledged not to corrupt the electorate using money and not to sow fear among the people to win votes.–LM#
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