Bacong: The Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Negros Oriental has dismissed the ‘vote-buying’ complaint against a barangay treasurer in Bacong town, Negros Oriental province, who was arrested over the weekend.
According to Philippines News Agency, Lt. Stephen Polinar, spokesperson of the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office (NOPPO), announced during a press conference on Monday at the Provincial Election Monitoring Action Center (PEMAC) that the case against Romnick Adalim was dismissed for “lack of probable” cause. The complaint has been redirected to the Kontra Bigay Committee for further review.
The committee is set to assess the complaint’s merits regarding a violation of Comelec Resolution No. 11104, known as the ‘Kontra-Bigay’ policy. Adalim, 36, a resident of Barangay Combado in Bacong, was apprehended on Saturday afternoon at a checkpoint for driving a motorcycle without a helmet. Upon checking his driver’s license and registration papers, police discovered white envelopes containing sample ballots of local candidates and cash inside his vehicle’s U-box.
A total of 39 envelopes were found, each containing PHP900 in various denominations, amounting to PHP35,100 in total. Polinar mentioned that Adalim was released on Sunday, with the sample ballots and money held as evidence for any future case the Kontra Bigay committee might file against him. This incident is currently the only suspected vote-buying case reported in Negros Oriental.
Lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, the Commission on Elections-Negros Island Region (Comelec-NIR) director, stated that the evidence will be referred to the Committee on Kontra Bigay in Manila for further investigation. He emphasized that if the investigation warrants, a case could be filed at a later stage.
Castillano clarified that both the fiscal’s office and the Comelec’s law department have concurrent jurisdiction over election offenses. He noted that even after the election period, an individual could still be charged with vote-buying, as such offenses have a five-year prescription period.
