By Ben Balce
MAYOR Vicente Emano yesterday denied that city hall gave out orders to barangay officials to haul off villagers to attend Sunday evening’s United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) rally at the Rodelsa Circle.
He said this following reports said that truckloads of people from various barangays, including outlying villages, started arriving at the Rodelsa Circle as early as 3 pm on Sunday.
A radio station carried a report about how barangay chairpersons were allegely pressured into bringing villagers so as to project an image of strength.
“With this attendance, [you can see that] the city really supports UNA,” said Emano.
City police director Senior Supt. Graciano Mijares said he could not give a crowd estimate.
“We can’t give estimates to avoid any [appearance of] bias. The police is apolitical… non-partisan,” said Mijares.
The rally in Cagayan de Oro was the second leg of UNA’s initial sortie in Mindanao. The first was in Bukidnon on Saturday.
Emano said the city delivered votes for Vice President Jejomar Binay and former president Joseph Estrada during the previous elections, and he was optimistic the same thing would be repeated in favor of the opposition group.
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