The Quezon City government on Tuesday warned against circulating text messages making vote-buying allegations by Mayor Joy Belmonte and QC first congressional district candidate Arjo Atayde.
The text message read: "Ka-brgy punta na po tayo sa JASMS Brgy. West Triangle EDSA Gate at magsuot ng green t-shirt meron bigayan ng 1k galing kay Mayor Joy & Arjo Atayde. 11-3pm lang bukas ng gate. Bibilhin na nila ang boto niyo. Salamat po."
(Let us go to JASMS Brgy. West Triangle EDSA Gate and wear a green t-shirt. There will be 1k given by Mayor Joy and Arjo Atayde. The gate will only be open from 11-3pm. They will buy your votes. Thank you.)
The office of the Quezon City mayor denied the information in the text message and slammed it as "fake."
"Ito po ay isang pekeng text na ang layunin ay manlinlang ng ating mga QCitizens, at mang-udyok ng kaguluhan. Hindi ito nanggaling sa lokal na pamahalaan ng Quezon City o sa kahit sinong nagsisilbi sa lungsod," said the Quezon City government in a statement.
(It is a fake text that aims to deceive our QCitizens at urge disorder. It did not come from the local government of Quezon City or to anyone serving the city.)
The local government then hoped for clarity and urged the public to not believe such attempts at manipulation.
"Hindi po natin papayagang masira ng maruming pamumulitika ang asenso na ating tinatamasa sa lungsod ngayon," it said.
(Let us not allow dirty politics to destroy the progress our city is enjoying today.)
This is not the first fake text message debunked by the city government against Belmonte, who is running for re-election in the upcoming elections.
Previously, the local government unit also had to deny a circulating message that claims Belmonte will be holding a birthday event.
