Death threats hound re-elected Bernabe

MANILA, Philippines - A week after his proclamation, re-elected Parañaque City Mayor Florencio Bernabe Jr. said yesterday he has been receiving death threats, reportedly from his rivals’ camps.

“Only my rivals have the motive. I’m not necessarily pointing fingers at anyone. It may not be the mayoralty candidate himself. It can be his sponsor. But I’m sure my allies will not do such thing,” he said in Filipino.

Bernabe said he has started receiving threats to his and his family’s life through text messages from unknown senders immediately after his proclamation on May 11.

The messages include condolences and a warning that “his family would be wiped out before the year ends.”

Losing mayoral candidate Eduardo Zialcita denied Bernabe’s allegation. “I will not do that because I wish him well,” he told The STAR.

Zialcita said they have also been “receiving similar text messages, but we just ignore it.”

Another losing mayoral candidate, Joey Marquez, said he has not heard about these text messages.

“It’s a cheap move and we will not do that. It might be that (Bernabe’s camp) could be the ones responsible for these text messages so people would talk about them,” he said.

Bernabe said he has also been getting flowers and mass cards from anonymous senders. “I don’t even dare touch them because it feels eerie,” he said.

Aside from threats, Bernabe also denounced his detractors for circulating various text messages saying he has died or is in a coma.

Bernabe has had to deal with similar rumors during the campaign period, following his heart operation in July last year. He showed journalists a scar on his chest, a result of the operation, and joked, “It’s me and not an apparition.”

According to Bernabe, the motive behind the fabricated stories could be to force him to face his constituents and prove that he is still alive.

“Then, they will kill me,” he said. “At least you already know in case something happens to me.”

Bernabe has already cancelled all his public appearances, including his supposed victory party on Tuesday.

He has also augmented his family’s security force and is contemplating having the incident probed. He said his problem is that he does not have any concrete proof on who is behind the alleged threats to his life.

Bernabe called on his critics to just wait for their chance to win public office in the 2013 polls and called on his supporters to ignore the rumors.

“I am still strong and healthy. Let’s close this issue. I don’t see any positive result that will come out from this,” Bernabe said.