INQUIRER.net Eleksyon 2007

Bacoor poll failure sought in petition

Inquirer

BACOOR, Cavite—Mayoral candidate Minerva Castillo officially filed a petition for a declaration of failure of elections in Bacoor at the Commission on Elections, citing among other reasons the alleged buying of votes by candidates in the province for P500 per vote.

In her five-page petition dated May 18, 2007, Castillo accused Strike Revilla of employing “massive fraud and terrorism” to ensure his victory.

Castillo, the wife of outgoing Mayor Jessie Castillo, said Revilla used armed goons and unscrupulous members of the Cavite police to harass her followers and eventually prevent them from casting their votes.

She said this was the reason there was a low turnout of votes in the municipality.

“(C)onsistent with the well-entrenched doctrines in election laws, codal provisions of the Omnibus Election Code violated, and the interest of the electorates (of Bacoor), it is just and proper that a failure of elections be declared by this commission,” Castillo said in her petition.

She likewise asked the Comelec to declare the canvassing of votes in Bacoor as well as the proclamation of Revilla null and void.

In a statement, incumbent Mayor Jessie Castillo, who is running for congressman, accused the Revilla camp of massive vote-buying.

Castillo said it was the Revilla camp that also sent hundreds of soldiers and policemen to houses of its rivals’ supporters to prevent them from going out to vote.

Quoting witnesses, Castillo said the Revillas distributed P500 to buy votes and set up “vote-buying booths” in polling precincts.

“The massive vote-buying was out in the open and witnessed by the people of Bacoor,” said Castillo in his statement.

Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. has not answered calls to his phone.

According to Castillo, the armed men who guarded these vote-buying booths were known policemen and bodyguards of the Revillas.

“The widespread vote-buying and intimidation and harassment of Senator Revilla and his armed escorts and his intervention in the process of the counting, together with the forceful confiscation of ballot boxes, are more than enough reasons to declare a failure of elections in Bacoor,” the mayor said.

“The systematic intimidation and harassment employed by the Revilla camp using elements of the provincial PNP resulted in the low turnout of voters,” he said.

The turnout in Bacoor, which has about 230,000 voters was just 38 percent. In the 2004 elections, at least 59 percent of Bacoor’s voters cast their ballots. Marlon Ramos, Inquirer Southern Luzon

Copyright 2009 INQUIRER.net and content partners. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.