Ex-San Juan vice mayor Zamora faces vote-buying raps

Two San Juan City residents asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday to probe former vice mayor Francis Zamora for allegedly dangling cash to residents to gain support for the petition calling for a recall election against Mayor Guia Gomez.

In a complaint filed with the Comelec Law Department, Lucila Robles and Veradel Surmieda accused Zamora of vote-buying and undue influence, offenses that are punishable under Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code.

The complainants alleged that the act of vote buying was done in the form of educational assistance in cash.

In return, they were made to sign a piece of paper without knowing that they were already signing a petition for recall which the Zamora camp allegedly made it appear as part of the government's Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

The cash assistance allegedly ranged from P1,500 to P5,000 depending on the educational level of the resident's child.

Robles said that Zamora’s office would screen beneficiaries of the city’s educational assistance and CCT if they are pro-Zamora or not.

“I’ve been getting educational assistance from the local government through then Vice Mayor Zamora for three consecutive years. The set-up last year was different and it was difficult to request for assistance for my grandchild. After getting assistance, I was made to sign a piece of paper. I saw the petition for recall on the paper’s heading,” Robles said.

Surmieda alleged that she had to get a "Zamora ID" in order to get educational assistance in line with the "No Zamora ID, No assistance policy.”

Zamora's supporters filed the recall petition against Gomez last week, accusing her of graft and corruption, incompetence, abuse of power and dereliction of duty.

Zamora lost to Gomez by only 1,224 votes in the May 2016 election. —ALG, GMA News