WALANG vote-buying sa libreng paaral ng mga kabataan lalo pa’t sinimulan ang programa sa kasagsagan ng pandemya.

Ito ang giit ni Atty. Manuel Jeffrey David, legal counsel ng leading congressional bet sa Quezon City District 5, kasunod ng alegasyong ipunukol ni outgoing Quezon City Rep. Alfred Vargas laban sa katunggali ng kanyang nakababatang kapatid.

Ani David, ang scholarship program na puntirya ni Vargas ay matagal nang nagbibigay ng libreng edukasyon – at hindi kailanman naging kasangkapan sa pulitika ng bagitong congressional bet na si Ate Rose Lin.

“Just to comment on what was presented in the media about the alleged vote buying incident which our scholarship program was portrayed as means of vote buying. Number one, we won’t be commenting until we see the actual complaint. But in actuality the program in itself has been existent for quite a while. It’s not just because of the election where this program was actually launched. In fact, a body of scholars of Ate Rose Lin would attest to her philanthropic works even before the election,” pahayag ni Atty. David.

Aniya, hindi kasalanan ni Lin kung bakit dinadagsa ng mga tao ang kanilang scholarship program. Ito, ayon pa sa abogado ay bunga na rin ng kapabayaan sa loob ng siyam na taon ng nakaupong pulitiko sa district 5.

“We would want to make it known that is not the fault of Ate Rose Lin if there is in fact a large turnout of availment of this program. These people who have been in power in the district have been given 9 years to institute similar programs wherein they will be able to provide the same scope for the same services which Ate Rose Lin provided prior March 25,” dagdag pa niya.

Diin pa ni David, pinili ng nakaupong pulitiko na huwag magsagawa ng scholarship program: “In this case we would like to inform everyone that they opted not to do that, they chose not to do that and now they are claiming that is a mode of vote buying?”

Marami na din aniya silang narinig na kwento tungkol sa mga residente ng District 5 na pinangakuan ng scholarship, pero hanggang pangako lang.

“We’ve heard stories that they were given promises of a similar program, which they were not able to push through with,” ayon pa sa abogado.

Ito rin ang dahilan kung bakit nagtayo ng scholarship program si Ate Rose Lin, ayon kay Atty. David at ito ay upang tugunan ang mga kabataang nagnanais na maging scholar pero pinangakuan lang at hindi tinupad.

Hamon pa niya sa magkapatid na Vargas, bumaba sa pedestal at tanungin ang mga benepisyaryong kabataan hinggil sa naturang programa.

“The people themselves would attest to the fact that this scholarship program is not in any way shape or form of a vote buying scheme. So, we request those people who claim that it is a vote scheme to talk to the scholars which we have helped which have availed of the program. This has changed their outlook during this time of pandemic,” pahayag pa ng abogado.

“Let me reiterate we are not in power. We are not the incumbent in this district. We don’t have the resources of the government. We cannot mobilize it. Yet we are able to give this program to the people of District 5.” (FERNAN ANGELES)