BANGUED, Abra – Former Gov. Eustaquio ‘Takit’ Bersamin vehemently denied reports being circulated by his political rivals that he was paid more or less P25 million to give up his bid to be re-elected for the province’s coveted gubernatorial post.
Bersamin, who served as the father of the province from 2007-2016, stated that he had been receiving numerous calls from volunteers and supporters from the different municipalities inquiring from him on the truth of reports being circulated by some quarters that he was paid P25 million to back out from the race for the gubernatorial race in the upcoming May 9, 2022 synchronized national and local elections.
“We have never exchanged the integrity of our name for any amount of money that is being offered by our political rivals. We will never sacrifice our integrity because we value the importance of our good image which we will pass on to our successors. We will not exchange integrity to the billions of pesos of our political rivals,” Bersamin stressed.
The former governor claimed that he was convinced to seek the top elected post in the province because of the snowballing clamor from the people to bring back the good image that Abra had during his term and that people already are tired of the way the province had been administered over the past several years.
According to him, he just wants to leave a good legacy in Abra for the benefit of the present and future generation of inhabitants because he does not want that the province will always be equated to violence because the people value the importance of law and order which is a driver of growth and development.
He disclosed that the people are simply awaiting for the right time to get back at the very personalities who continue to make use of violence to threaten the residents just to be able to stay and power and pursue their questionable intentions that had tainted a bad image of the province from the perception of the outsiders that is why something must already be done to change the mindset of the electorate in voting for those leaders with proven track record to alleviate the current status of the province and bring it to greater heights.
In the past, Abra has been known as a violent-stricken province because of the loss of numerous elected and aspiring local officials and their supporters due to the proliferation of election-related violence and incidents that earned its former title as the ‘killing fields of the north.’
However, Bersamin was able to work with concerned law enforcement agencies until Abra recorded no election-related violence and incidents during the May 2013 mid-term elections following the aggressive dismantling of the many private armed groups (PAGs) being maintained by various local politicians until the end of his term in 2016.
The older brother of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin expressed hope that the people of Abra will not be blinded by the money of his political rivals so that they can use their conscience in voting for the right leaders who know how to bring the province to greater heights and not to continue ruining the image of Abra from outsiders which they have done over the past several years that they were in power. By HENT