'Baguio local officials asked P.5M from UNA'

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – Village officials in vote-rich Barangay Irisan in Baguio City are in hot water after reportedly “selling” themselves for half a million pesos in favor of local bets from the United Nationalist Alliance.

More than a week before the May 13 polls, Irisan barangay officials led by village chief Thomas Dumalti were reportedly found to be in the payroll of Timpuyog ti Baguio local coalition.

Irisan boasts of over 9,000 voters, sizeable enough to influence the results in the local polls here.

Dumalti, who admitted to submitting a P469,450 budget proposal to the local UNA coalition, said the criticisms are black propaganda since it was not approved yet.

The document, now being circulated all over town denouncing the village officials’ partisanship, a contained budgetary requirements that included P24,500 salary for Dumalti for the 35-day campaign period or P700 daily pay while village conucilors Arthur Carlos, Philip Tanawe, Basilio Wallang, Carlito Zordilla and Ana Calatan were to receive P17,500 each.

The proposal also included P105,000 to cover “rentals of two vehicles for roving to be used at Lower and Upper Irisan excluding gasoline and crude fuel." 

The proposal also included P4,000 for eight rally venue sires at P500 each.

Another P60,000 was proposed to cover snacks for the eight rally venues at P50 each for 150 people for the eight venues. Another entry was a P7,200 budget to cover communication load for Dumalti and his five other councilors at P300 each per week for four weeks.

Dumalti, who himself affixed his signature as “Punong Barangay” and “Overall Coordinator”, even included P15,000 for three houses to serve as “Timpuyog” headquarters, and P52,500 budget for six personnel to man the three headquarters at P250 each.

Other entries in the proposal noted P2,250.00 for the cooking gas of the three headquarters, P10,800 to cover six cavans of rice also for the headquarters, P9,000 for the snacks, P1,500 for drinking water, and another P2,700 for water.

Dumalti also included in the requirements P87,500 for 10 “barangay tanods” “to safeguard, help and monitor Timpuyog posters day and night from Purok 1-28 at P250 per tanod for 35 days.

The budgetary requirements totaled P469,450 which Dumalti said was “only a proposal.”

The village official is now blaming the camp of independent congressional bet Nicasio Aliping as behind such black propaganda move as a sign of “desperation as most of barangay officials in Irisan are backing Timpuyog bets because of their help in the barangay.”

Aliping, formerly with the Timpuyog in the 2010 polls where he ranked number one in the 14-member city council here, said, “It’s not black propaganda. It’s the truth, most barangay officials are in the payroll of Timpuyog," a thing vehemently denied by the local UNA coalition.

The Irisan barangay officials' scandal came after various reports of vote-buying in the city via scholarship agreements from the Congressional pork of Rep. Bernardo Vergara.  

The local Commission on Election has not received any formal complaints or documents to prove and merit an investigation.