A CANDIDATE’S DIARY, DAY 25: THE POWER OF RICE AND MONEY

On Tuesday, April 23, I received a warning from a friend dissuading me from pushing through with my scheduled rallies in the northern part of Matalam town, specifically barangays New Alimodian and Taguranao.

I was told that early morning Tuesday, the father of my political opponent went up to New Alimodian and Taguranao and distributed money to barangay officials and people in the area.

“Baka langawin ang rally nyo kasi nabigyan na ng pera ang mga tao,” he told me. (Only flies will be at your rally because people have been given money and they will not attend your gathering anymore.)

Rather than be discouraged by the report, I took that warning as an opportunity for me to prove that in the coming elections, money and rice cannot sway voters’ decision anymore.

I went up to New Alimodian at about 5 p.m. and when I arrived, people slowly gathered at the barangay plaza. The crowd grew bigger as farmers and workers from the fields came home when darkness set in.

By the time I was through with my political speech, over 2,000 people filled up the area, one of the biggest barangay rallies I had in recent weeks.

Congressional candidate Dr. Rodrigo Escudero was so surprised by the huge crowd which attended the rally prompting him to comment: “This is no longer a barangay rally. This is already a municipal rally.”

After the New Alimodian rally, we went up to Barangay Taguranao at about 9 p.m.

It was dark as there was a brownout but what I saw along the side of the rugged and rough road leading to the village touched me so much.

Barangay folks gathered in groups along the road applauding and shouting as my convoy passed by. They have been waiting since 7 in the evening knowing that I would drive by.

I can understand the love and affection of the people of the barangay towards me. It was during my term as Governor when the road, now in a state of disrepair, was built, the power lines reached the village and the big agricultural corporation Sumifru opened up a large area of banana plantation providing jobs to people.

At 9 o’clock in the evening, the people of Taguranao gathered at the barangay plaza until 11:30 to listen to the programs and projects that I and Congressional candidate Rod Escudero shared with them.

Even towards the end of the rally, people were still shouting “Sige pa! Sige pa!”

As I and my group drove back to Kidapawan City at about 12 midnight, I realized that the wads of money and the tons of rice being given out by the other camp to sway people to their side have not achieved their expected results.

No amount of money and rice could relieve people from the hardships that they are suffering now.

(Photo caption: This grainy photo which I took using my Iphone shows a portion of the big crowd in the New Alimodian rally in Matalam, North Cotabato.)