Bacolod Election Officer Kathrina Trinio Caña Saturday, May 22, hit back at those who have unjustly accused her office of allowing the registration of voter applicants without any proof to support their being residents of Bacolod City.
“We are not beholden to any person or politician…we are only beholden to the position that we hold and to the COMELEC as an institution where we belong,” she said.
“You never have the right to accuse us of any wrongdoing if you do not have proof and personal knowledge of it. You never have the right to make malicious insinuations in the guise of exercising your freedom of expression,” she said in a Facebook post.
She said for quite a time she has been silent to numerous social media attacks against her capability and her office’s handling of the registration of voters in Bacolod City.
The attacks have come from those who think that social media is a forum where they can just post anything and not be held accountable for the wrong information they share or for maligning the persons or the office subject of their posts, she said.
“You never have the right to launch personal attacks against us because you do not know us, our values and how we work,” she said.
“You never have the right to call us ‘bullshit’ and ‘crap’ because we have not given you the right to call us that. Your right is never limitless because your right ends where our rights begin,” she added.
Caña said she had let those attacks pass believing that social media is never and could never be the proper forum to address the issues thrown at them.
“But for you to directly message us and unjustly accuse us… based on what you heard over the radio is just too below the belt,” she said.*