Rota Republicans accuse businessman of ‘vote buying’ Print Email Published on Monday, October 13, 2014 00:00 By Richelle Agpoon-Cabang - richelle@mvariety - Variety News Staff Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailShare on printMore Sharing Services 3 TO help the people of Rota, Hee Cho, businessman and owner of Rota Resort and Country Club announced last week that he will be going house to house to give away rice and butane to island residents, but Rep. Teresita Santos, who is running for senator, and other Republicans believe that his motive is “very political” in nature. In their letter to Variety, the Rota Republicans said what Cho is doing is “tantamount to vote buying because he is doing it at the request and urging of Sen. Paul A. Manglona, Sen. Jovita M Taimanao and, of course, the Mayor of Rota, Melchor A. Mendiola who are seeking re-election in November.” Cho in a statement last week said he was responding to Manglona, Taimanao and Mendiola’s request to help the people of Rota who are experiencing food shortages after having no food shipments for the past two months. But according to the Rota Republicans, “There is an adequate supply, but they are desperately trying to influence the Rota voters to vote for them — this type of activity is clearly vote buying and it is against the election law of the commonwealth.” The NMI Republican Party through Santos has written a letter to Public Auditor Mike Pai, urging him to look into Cho’s activity. Hee Cho HEE CHO Asked for comment, Cho said his gesture to help the people of Rota is not politically motivated. “This statement is humiliating to the people of Rota. Maybe I am a very cheap guy, but the residents of Rota are not cheap!” he said. According to him he was shocked and feels that the residents of Rota will also be shocked. Cho said his decision to help the people of Rota is his response to circumstances brought about by typhoon Vongfong. “I certainly did not predict that Vongfong would directly hit Rota right before the general elections!” He added, “Senator Manglona, Senator Taimanao and Mayor Mendiola worried about the people and asked me, a local businessman, for assistance. I’m not sure why, but Rep. Teresita Santos never called me to ask for aid.” According to Cho, “There are many things that Rota residents need, but my supplies are subject to the same shipping conditions as the residents. My surplus supplies are Calrose rice and butane gas, which I decided to distribute to give some small aid to the people.” He does not have to bribe anyone, he added. “[Representative Santos] says that my actions are ‘unethical.’ If this action is considered ‘unethical,’ then I want to be considered ‘unethical’ every day of my life,” he said. “If Teresita Santos wants to help the residents of Rota, she can call me anytime and cooperate with us to distribute the goods. If she wants to distribute every sack of rice with her own two arms, I would call them the most beautiful arms. There is no politics here. I hope Ms. Santos isn’t being political either,” he added.
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 23:27:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015