The Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Negros Oriental has dismissed the “vote-buying” complaint against a barangay (village) treasurer in Bacong town, Negros Oriental province, who was arrested over the weekend.
Lt. Stephen Polinar, spokesperson of the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office (NOPPO), said during a press conference yesterday at the Provincial Election Monitoring Action Center (PEMAC) that the prosecutor dismissed the case against Romnick Adalim for “lack of probable” cause and the complaint filed was “reverted to the Kontra Bigay Committee.”
He said the committee will determine the merits of the complaint for violation of Comelec Resolution No. 11104 or the “Kontra-Bigay” policy.
Adalim, 36 years old, a resident of Barangay Combado in Bacong, was arrested on Saturday afternoon, May 10, after police flagged him down at a checkpoint for driving a motorcycle without wearing a helmet.
Police asked for his driver’s license and registration papers, and as he voluntarily opened his U-box, they found white envelopes with sample ballots of local candidates and cash inside.
A total of 39 envelopes were found, each containing P900 in various denominations, amounting to P35,100 in total.
Polinar said Adalim was released on Sunday, May 11, and the sample ballots and money are under police custody as evidence for the Kontra Bigay committee’s future filing of a case against him.
This is so far the only suspected vote-buying incident reported in Negros Oriental.
Meanwhile, lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, the Commission on Elections-Negros Island Region director, said “we will refer the evidence to the Committee on Kontra Bigay in Manila for further investigation.”
“If it warrants that a case will be filed later on, then it will be ongoing,” he added.
Castillano explained that on election offenses, the fiscal’s office and the law department of the Comelec have “concurrent jurisdiction” over a case.
Even after the election is over, a case may still be filed against an individual for vote-buying “because an election offense has a five-year prescription period,” he noted. (PNA)