Atan leads Tomas in his own survey

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City south district congressional candidate Jonathan “Atan” Guardo is now leading, according to a survey conducted by his own party.

Based on the internal survey conducted by Guardo’s camp, Mayor Tomas Osmeña, who is running against Guardo got 43 percent out of the 2,000 respondents while the latter got 53 percent or a lead of 10 percent.

Guardo said that in the last three weeks, they were statistically tied with Osmeña but this time he already has the advantage.

In barangay Guadalupe and Calamba, considered bailiwicks of Osmeña, both of the congressional aspirants were statistically tied.

Guardo said the defections of Osmeña’s leaders to his camp is proof of the momentum as the health issue hit the latter badly, according to the internal survey.

“It shows they believed in my ‘Gusto ko Healthy’ campaign. Uban nako, nagtoo sila nga panahon na sa kausaban,” said Guardo, who claimed that he is “110 percent” healthy.

“Let your voices be heard. The dawn of the new day is going to start on Tuesday. The people are clamoring gusto ko healthy ka. There is no stopping now. Again vigilance against vote-buying and massive cheating is important,” he added. 

“He must be overdosing on Arthro,” the mayor responded in a text message to The FREEMAN, “it’s all talk but he practically gave up campaigning. He has not gained a single barangay captain. The Iglesia rejected him. Even civic clubs don’t even invite him to speak.”

Last week, several leaders of Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan shifted their support to Guardo saying they want a healthy congressman to serve them.

The BOPK is chaired by Osmeña, who was diagnosed to have a fourth stage urinary bladder cancer the other year. 

Because of his health condition, Cebu City mayoralty candidate Georgia Osmeña, the sister of the mayor, appealed to his brother to quit the congressional race.

The mayor’s sister had said that it is not fair for the residents of the city to have a congressman who has a high chance of not being able to complete his term.

Former senator John Henry “Sonny” Osmeña, who already withdrew in the mayoralty race and endorsed Georgia, challenged the mayor to reveal all his medical records to show proof that he has really been cured of cancer. 

Meanwhile, Osmeña is worried that there will be some losing candidates after Monday’s national and local elections who will not accept defeat if the Commission on Elections cannot ensure a smooth and credible elections.

Osmeña reiterated his suggestion that the scheduled May 10 elections should be moved to another date if the Comelec officials and the Smartmatic-TIM personnel admit that they are not yet prepared until now.

While the testing and sealing of the Precinct Count Optical Scan machines was scheduled to be conducted yesterday, it was moved to tomorrow because some of the memory cards for the PCOS machines recalled by Comelec due to some defects were returned only yesterday afternoon. When the Comelec personnel in other parts of the country tested some of the PCOS machines last Monday they discovered glitches, some names of “candidates” got no votes during the test even if their names were actuality voted.

This prompted some sectors to suggest postponing the election by two weeks to give the Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM personnel enough time to correct the defects.

According to Osmeña he is in favor of the suggestion to move the date of the elections because he strongly believes that if Comelec cannot ensure credible results of the poll many losing candidates may not accept defeat.  — /BRP (THE FREEMAN)