EDITORIAL – Cebuanos arise against evil imputations

All Cebuanos should unite and rise as one in defending the integrity of Cebu against allegations by the political opposition that massive cheating occurred in the island in favor of President Arroyo.

All Cebuanos know these allegations are a big lie. Never meant to be proven because they never will, their purpose is more sinister -- to fire up emotions elsewhere as part of the grand design to remove Arroyo from power by whatever means.

One thing must be made clear to Cebuanos. They are being asked to defend Cebu, not Arroyo. Cebuanos are not qualified to pass judgment on Arroyo regarding the conduct of the election in other places.

Whether Arroyo cheated or not in other places will have to be proven in the proper forum. That is not the call to which all Cebuanos must answer. What all Cebuanos must answer are the allegations that cast aspersions on the collective integrity and intelligence of Cebuanos.

If any cheating occurred in Cebu, as there has to be in an imperfect world, it was not of the scope and scale that can alter a clear eventuality. Arroyo did not have to cheat in Cebu. She was the hands-down winner long before the first vote was cast.

That is because, aside from the maturity and intelligence that predisposed Cebuanos to vote for the most qualified bet even if they did not personally love her, virtually all politicos in the province campaigned for Arroyo. You do not cheat to get that which you already have.

Even the opposition acknowledged that. It is a matter of record that weeks before the polls, the point men of the opposition in Cebu virtually conceded not having the means to win here. Fernando Poe himself only stayed briefly, given such a cold environment.

If any cheating did occur in the scope and scale that the opposition alleges, it would have been totally out of synch with the character of the Cebuano not to raise a peep. For this bastion of freedom and democracy would never countenance and condone the rape of truth.

Cory Aquino, who to our great sadness was among those who called for the resignation of Arroyo, once benefited from the Cebuanos' great love of freedom and democracy. It was here that Cory hid when Edsa erupted. It was the Cebuanos who shielded her from harm.

Cory should help repudiate these allegations. For how can she believe that the very same Cebuanos who braved the wrath of Marcos by voting for her in the snap elections of 1986, in whose midst she launched her civil disobedience, in whose bosom she sought refuge, are election cheats.