Vote buying has a long tradition here. In the last election, I lived in Ormoc City and a Cedilla (they are a family dynasty there) was running for Mayor against Richard Gomez, a popular actor and person , whose wife is from Ormoc (Lucy Torres-Gomez is their Distirct Rep in the Congress). Richard lost by a soucple of thousand votes. Codillas party paid 1000 PhP, and Richard's paid only 500.
This election, Richard was elected Mayor, and they paid NOTHING for the votes. Codilla withheld donated relief food and water after Typhoon Yolanda, from his non-party members, and much of the billions in aid sat in warehouses and literally rotted. It was exposed.
Yesterday, Marlene voted here in Davao City, at a precinct across town. She registered there last summer as a favor to the Barangay Captain, who allowed us to park our food truck next to Ateneo University on Roxas Avenue. He is a cousin to Duterte, and even though they do not allow food trucks on Davao tweet, he got us a waver. That is more like the way most politic i conducted here. Friends of friends share the rewards of loyalty.
The food truck was a loss for us, but life continues. Since we could't find another place to park it, we couldn't enlarge our clientele. After losing a couple hundred thousand pesos, we gave it up and rid ourselves of the albatross.
But, in spite of that, I have great love for this place and even more for my sweetheart, Marlene. She is a treasure and a great addition to my life. Filipinas do make it "more fun in the Philippines".
Vote Trump!
New Year's at Mark's house. Minierva to the left, Marlene to the right, next to her Mom and step-dad, plus a brother.
Even with a TV crew interview, we didn't see enough increase...
