‘NO CARAVAN, NO SCHOLARSHIP?’: Passi City mayor denies using scholarship program for ‘Uniteam’ event

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Passi City, Iloilo Mayor Stephen Palmares denied allegations that he and Vice Mayor Jesry Palmares were using the city government’s scholarship program to support the 2022 presidential tandem of former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.

Palmares, Iloilo provincial chairperson of Duterte’s Lakas-CMD party, told Daily Guardian via phone interview that the scholars’ attendance to the caravan was “purely voluntary”.

“Here in the City of Passi, I am clarifying that attendance to the caravan is purely voluntary and we have also invited not only the scholars, but also all organizations in the city, whoever supports Bongbong Marcos and Sara [Duterte],” Palmares said.

The mayor also denied that scholarships would be affected by non-attendance to the caravan, saying that this was all based on false information on social media.

This, despite the Facebook account “requiring” the attendance of scholars to the political event. Daily Guardian traced the account to the City Information Office which previously posted official pronouncements on behalf of the Passi City government.

“I have already asked to investigate the circulated [screenshots] but anyway that is social media, anybody could create an account. The only information they should get is from the LGU Passi City Facebook page and my official Facebook page as well,” Mayor Palmares said.

Several screenshots of a certain “Cio Lgu Passi” post on the scholars’ Facebook group made rounds on social media as early as Thursday evening, inviting the scholars to join the Marcos-Duterte caravan today, December 11.

The post instructed scholars to wear red on Saturday and position themselves in certain designated areas and receive their clearances and payroll numbers for their scholarships after the activity.

They were also told to “respect Mayor [Stephen Palmares] and Vice Mayor [Jesry Palmares]” and not to post any bad comments on social media.

“Remember, [Mayor and Vice Mayor Palmares] are the ones who decide whether or not to continue [the scholarship program]. If you were the mayor and you gave each family help through the scholarship program, then you would be the ones to make bad comments? You already know how the mayor and vice mayor have worked hard for our progress,” the FB post said.

Another screenshot prior to the latest post of the said account told the scholars not to post or spread screenshots of the group.

“Before reading this, please be reminded that screenshotting and posting to personal FB accounts from this group is prohibited. This was from 2010. Just us and you scholars can read from here. Once you get caught, [you will be] automatically deleted from this closed group,” a prior post warned.

Two of the scholars, Amy* and Gina* spoke to Daily Guardian under condition of anonymity and confirmed the authenticity of these screenshots.

Both said that while Mayor Palmares already clarified that the activity was voluntary, the city government still required them to provide either representatives to proxy them, or to provide valid explanations as to why they could not attend.

Amy said she was “disappointed” as to why the city government would use the scholarship program for political purposes.

“We can support [the city government] but not this way. It’s like our freedom to support or not to support a candidate we want was being taken. There are other programs in Passi City that the scholars can support, but not this caravan for a certain candidate,” Amy said.

Gina’s reaction to the post was along the same line, saying she was “shocked” to see a post which seemed to mandate their attendance.

“I was shocked when I read it because it’s an act of oppression. It’s like our freedom to choose was being taken. From what I know, [those kinds of activities] are supposed to be voluntary but then they had that announcement. In their announcement it did not say that it was voluntary, and they even used the phrase ‘ALL in’,” Gina said.

POLITICAL ACTIVITY

But this wasn’t the first time that Passi City scholars were used to funnel into the political activities of the Palmares camp.

Justice Pamplona, a 4th year Broadcasting student from West Visayas State University, wrote on her Facebook profile that she had nixed her renewal of the scholarship program back in 2019.

Pamplona told Daily Guardian that the Passi City government had other activities like tree planting and other developmental tasks, but she added that she drew the line when some local candidates campaigned to the scholars and their parents.

“These are actually really nice activities like tree planting and blood-letting activities where scholars help out in the community, so there is no political nature on these activities. However, there was one time in 2019 when we were instructed to attend an orientation requiring us to bring along our guardian or parent. Then as it turned out, there were political aspirants who I won’t name who were brought there, and they did a sort of campaign there,” Pamplona narrated.

She also responded to the reactions made against those who leaked the screenshots for the caravan.

“A lot of people are missing the point. It’s not about who the city mayor or the vice mayor supports, I mean of course they can support whomever they want. But the [current] issue is about using the clearance and the payroll as leverage to mobilize the scholars,” she said.

She believes that with Mayor Palmares’ clarification, the fault would be with the City Information Office, as seen in the screenshots.