Reacting to recent statements of Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin Lim accusing him of engaging in vote-buying and declaring him unfit to continue owing to old age, House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. has this to say;

“I am confident of my   status as a ‘legend’ in the 4th district”, and Dagupan Mayor Benjamin Lim, is merely in “panic mode”.

De Venecia, in a phone interview with The PUNCH, added “I have done my assignments very well    in   my district so I need not buy votes.”

Lim has accused De Venecia of vote-buying and said his camp is preparing to file a complaint before the Commission on Election (Comelec).

“I have solid achievements to show. But he has none. So he is the one buying votes because he has nothing to tell the people about what he has done,” said De Venecia, who is running for a third term and previously elected four times as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

De Venecia, president of the ruling Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, said what Lim might be referring to is the advance payments their party gave to their poll watchers and other election-related assistants. This is an “obligation” of any political party, he added.

De Venecia said he is doing his best to stay cool but Lim seems intent on provoking him.

“Sobra na. Mali ang ginagawa niya (It’s too much. What he is doing is wrong),” he said.

“Everybody knows that I’m a legend in my district. I have served the people well and in return   they show their love to me. My opponent cannot say the same thing.  But I want to face this fight with humility. I hope my opponent will campaign on platforms,” De Venecia added.

Further, De Venecia reacted to Lim’s comments during his campaigns saying that the speaker is already old and should retire from politics.

De Venecia countered that despite his age, “I had never undergone two times heart by-pass operation, unlike my opponent.”

95 volunteer as witnesses

First, it was Mayor Benjamin Lim who charged the De Venecia camp with rampant vote-buying. This time, it’s the De Venecia’s turn for a counter-attack.

According to Speaker Jose de Venecia’s campaign headquarters, at least 95 supposedly known supporters of Mayor Lim have left the latter’s camp and are now ready to stand as witnesses to Lim’s alleged massive vote-buying activities.

At least nine of these came forward last Wednesday while 86 others are expected on Thursday, all of whom executed affidavits admitting that they were among those recruited by Lim’s coordinators to receive grocery items, bread, shoulder bags, wall clocks, t-shirts and cash amounts of P500 to P1,000.

The identities of these alleged followers, however, were not released to the media. Lawyer Jack Castañeda from the camp of Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. said the names of the witnesses are still being withheld for security reasons.

The witnesses reportedly claimed some of them were brought to Lim’s warehouse in barangay Malued, Dagupan City while others to the Hidden Rock Resort in barangay Tebag, Mangaldan.

Castañeda said with 95 affidavits now in the hands of the legal panel, they are considering filing a petition for disqualification with the Commission on Elections of Lim as congressional candidate for the 4th district, and his son, Brian, who is running for city mayor.

He added, however, that they are not rushing to file as they want an iron-clad guarantee that the case will succeed.

Lim had earlier charged that the Speaker has been dispensing millions to barangay officials including his political ward leaders in the 4th district with the intent of bribing them to switch sides or buying their loyalty.

 Castañeda said lawyers Victor Llamas Jr., Alejandro Villamil, Manuel Manuel and Joven Maramba, president of the IBP Pangasinan chapter, are assisting him in evaluating the evidence.

The affiants who volunteered as witnesses came from Dagupan, Mangaldan, San Fabian, San Jacinto and Manaoag, all parts of the 4th district.

At the same time, a number of barangay chairmen in the district denounced Lim’s claims in the media, accusing de Venecia of vote-buying.–EVA/LM

 

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