Comelec staff didn’t get money for food

The Commission on Election (Comelec)-11 officials who went to Catalunan Grande for a satellite registration did not receive P5,000 for food stated in the Facebook status of Acting Mayor Paolo Duterte last Monday.

Assistant Regional Director Marlon Casquejo clarified in an interview with the media yesterday that he was not present during the satellite registration but he had conducted a meeting with assistant election officers who went to Catalunan Grande about the matter.

“I met with them re-

garding the satellite registration and there was no P5,000 given),” Casquejo said in the vernacular.

Last Monday, Duterte posted in his official facebook page Vice Mayor Pulong Duterte Official that the Comelec had asked assistance from the Barangay for satellite registration and biometrics. The staff who went there allegedly complained about the lumpiang shanghai and fried chicken served them.

In the same post, the acting mayor said, that the Comelec staff should have been satisfied with the P5,000 given them to buy food.

When asked about what he can comment about the alleged complaint of his people regarding the food served to them in Catalunan Grande, Casquejo said in the vernacular, “I don’t know, it is difficult to comment about someone’s personal feelings especially when you consider that they registered more than 1,000 without lunch break.”

Casquejo added that this was probably more of a misunderstanding.

When asked if they always accept money when someone from the Barangay offers to give them, Casquejo explained that this is not the norm but that it is in the law that whoever requests for satellite operations will have to bear the expense.

“We are not the ones who required them to do that but there is a law that it shall be at the expense of the party who requested the said satellite registration,” Casquejo said.

As of yesterday afternoon, Duterte’s status already had 595 likes, 57 shares, and 118 comments.