Party-list lawmaker Sam Verzosa Jr. denied Friday claims that he is buying votes to win Manila’s mayoral race in the Philippine midterm elections.
Verzosa, a co-founder of the multi-level marketing company Frontrow and representative of the Tutok To Win party-list, said he has been giving away goods and scholarships for the past 10 years but stopped before the start of the official campaign period.
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“Ako po ay nakilala sa pamimigay ng tulong, I have been helping for the past 10 years, kilalang-kilala po ito, itong ating initials na SV sa pagbigay ng masasarap na ayuda, ng kabuhayan, ng scholarships, at ibat ibang klase ng tulong,” he said in a TeleRadyo Serbisyo interview.
He added: “After March 28, itinigil ko na lahat ng pamimigay ng ayuda o any form of goods na pwedeng ma-ilegal.”
The lawmaker said all of the goods he distributed in the past came from his show “Dear SV.”
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He added he has no time to do vote-buying since he is busy on the campaign trail day and night.
“Ang pinagbasehan nila ‘yung pagbibgay ng goods with the initials ‘SV’. Lahat ng ginagawa ko nasa Facebook araw-araw. Tayo ay sumusunod sa batas at nangangampanya ng patas mula umaga, tanghali, hapon hanggang gabi,” he said.
Verzosa, who is running as an independent, faces stiff competition in the Manila mayoral race against incumbent mayor Honey Lacuna and former mayor Isko Moreno.
Meanwhile, Verzosa’s lawyer Atty. Cush Ravin Jainani said their camp has yet to receive the show cause order from the Commssion on Elections.
“Wala kaming idea sa tinutukoy nila. Sobrang general ng statement. We don’t want to speculate. We will wait for the show cause order before we explain,” he said.
Comelec on Thursday confirmed that show cause orders would be issued to Manila City mayoralty bets Isko Moreno, Samuel Versoza, as well as other local candidates to explain alleged vote buying.
Aside from the Versoza and Moreno, the Comelec Kontra Bigay committee also issued show cause orders against following:
• Jerry Jose
• Richard Kho
• Levito Baligod
• Marilou Baligod
• Julian Edward Emerson Coseteng
• Anna Katrina Hernandez
• Dale Gonzalo Rigor Malapitan