Benguet town holds feast to purge election evil

Benguet town holds feast to purge election evil

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Posted date: May 15, 2010

KIBUNGAN, BENGUET—AFter enduring the hot, dry season sun during the long queue for the country’s first automated elections on May 10, upland folk here were treated on Tuesday to a community meal, consisting of carabeef and pork broth.

The treat came from the winners of the local election led by reelected Mayor Benito Siadto (Lakas-Kampi-CMD), Vice Mayor-elect Auriana Sacpa (Nacionalista Party) and the eight newly elected councilors of this upland town of 8,041 voters.

A carabao and two pigs were slaughtered for the feast. But the animals were brought only early in the afternoon so community folk, who had been waiting to partake of a lunch meal, had to wait until 6 p.m. for an early dinner.

After dinner, Kibungan election official Rey Oliva proclaimed the newly elected officials.

“As has been the tradition, this feast won’t just be a ‘blowout’ but a common meal to promote reconciliation and harmony again between and among the various candidates who might have verbally hurt or offended each other during the campaign,” said Fausto Songyoen, the town’s civil registrar.

A local elder, or manbunong, offered the sacrificial animals to the gods and spirits, invoking them to continue to bless the community and cleanse all the negative impact of verbal attacks and accusations candidates had exchanged during the political campaign.

Kibungan, a farming town of more than 15,000 residents, experienced almost similar glitches and discomforts, which other voters in various polling centers in the country experienced on Monday. The town is about 40 kilometers from Baguio City.

Election results could not be transmitted from the polling centers to the canvassing server at the town hall because many of the broadband-based transmission gadgets would not work and many voters had to endure heat, thirst and hunger as they waited for at least three hours for their turn to vote.

“This postelection feast would thus help us forget all our sacrifices and discomforts on Election Day so we could move on again as a community,” said Songyoen. Maurice Malanes, Inquirer Northern Luzon