BY VANESSA L. ALMEDA
SURIGAO CITY –The election campaign kicked off Monday with the opposition rallying the support of two big local churches in the crusade for a clean and fraud-free automated election.
Former mayor Alfonso S. Casurra, who is one of three candidates for mayor, along with vice mayoral candidate Jose Expeditus Bayana and 10 candidates for the local council officially started the local campaign period with an early morning mass at the Virgen dela Paz Y Buen Viaje Parish, followed by meetings with Surigao Diocese Bishop Antonieto Cabajog and Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) Surigao diocese Bishop Rhee Timbang.
Casurra’s group calls itself the Koalisyon nan mga Oposisyon sa Surigao (Kosug or Strength) Coalition of the Opposition in Surigao and asked for the Churches’ help in ensuring that this year’s automated election will be clean and freed from fraud.
Casurra told the bishop about reports they have received of plans by certain sectors to rig election results by hacking the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines during the transmission of ballots for both local and national candidates.
