SUMMARY
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NAGA CITY, Philippines (UPDATED) – Liberal Party congressional candidate Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo filed two separate disqualification cases against Luis Villafuerte and his wife Nelly on Friday afternoon, May 10.
Accompanied by Mayor John Bongat and Vice Mayor Gabriel Bordado, Robredo proceeded to the provincial Comelec to formally appeal for the disqualification of the two candidates on the basis of a vote-buying incident reported on May 9.
Basis for disqualification
In the complaint, Robredo said that the Villafuerte couple violated Section 261(a) and Section 68 of the Omnibus Election Code which prohibits vote buying when they allegedly handed out money to voters on May 7 to 8.
Contacted by Rappler on Saturday, May 11, Rep Villafuerte dismissed the accusation, saying it is a fabrication. “It is a fabricated case of an opposition candidate who knows she is at the losing end,” Villafuerte declares.
Robredo is running against Rep Villafuerte’s wife, Nelly Villafuerte.
According to Robredo’s complaint for disqualification: “Sometime in the early part of May 2013, the barangay leaders of the defendant in various barangays of Naga City went around the area and recruited people to join the National People’s Coalition with a promise that those who will join will receive gifts/rewards from the defendant.”
The complaint further said that it was the barangay leader who distributed application forms for membership in the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) which contained a pledge to support their candidates for Naga City councilors, mayoral candidate Cho Roco, and congressional candidate Nelly Villafuerte.
Those who were in the list were advised to proceed to the address Basilica Road, Balatas, Naga City on May 7 and 8, 2013 with the application forms that would serve as the pass to the residence.
“Blank identification cards were given at the gate of the compound of the defendant which the “applicants” were required to fill out. The signatories of said ID cards were Cho Roco and Nelly Villafuerte. Their names were printed in the same style as that with the ballot with shaded circle,” the complaint said.
The sample ballots contained names of NPC’s local candidates in Naga city.
Election offense
Robredo’s complaint pointed out that: “‘applicants’ found not to be Naga City registered voters were sent home empty handed while those in the List of Registered Voters were led to a room. Inside said room, no seminar was conducted but instead the ‘applicants’ were told to vote for Nelly Villafuerte, Cho Roco and the candidates under their ticket.”
After this process, the “applicants” were then instructed to queue in front of Luis and Nelly Villafuerte where they were handed brown envelopes with P300.
Before leaving the residence Nelly reminded them to vote for her. “Oh, remember to vote for me,” Nelly was quoted as saying.
This act was intended to “influence, induce or corrupt the voters and make them vote for respondent Nelly,” the complaint said.
Vote buying is an election offense and is punishable with imprisonment of not less than one year but not more than 6 years. Furthermore, the guilty party shall be disqualified from holding public office. – Rappler.com
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