• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Amid the disqualification complaint filed against her over residency issue, Atty. Lionel Marco Castillano, Commission on Elections regional director for Negros Island Region, disclosed on Thursday that Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo remains a legitimate candidate for the Negros Oriental 3rd district congressional seat.
Castillano said that he has not received any copy of the complaint. “We will only have a copy, if we will be ordered by the Comelec to serve the summons (to the respondent),” he added, stressing the possibility that it was filed directly with the Comelec secretariat.
He added he does not know the identity of the complainant.
Degamo, widow of the slain Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo, is facing a disqualification complaint before the Comelec regarding her residency in Siaton town, where she is vying for the 3rd congressional district seat in the May 12 polls, running against Janice Teves Gaston, the aunt of Negros Oriental gubernatorial bet Pryde Henry Teves and ousted Representative Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves.
Castillano assured voters of the Negros Oriental 3rd district that “there is no disruption to the choice of congressional candidates in that area.”
Andrei Bon Tagum, counsel of Degamo, in a phone interview with Negros Occidental media, said that they have not received any copy of the complaint against his client.
Tagum clarified that Degamo filed transfer of voter’s registration to Siaton, which is part of the Negros Oriental 3rd district, on May 6, 2024, as she intended to run for a congressional post in the district.
He further said that the Degamo couple has a house in Barangay Bonawon, Siaton, where the late governor was buried, where they also run a fishing business.
When she ran for mayor of Pamplona, which belongs to the Negros Oriental 2nd congressional district, Tagum said Degamo also complied with the residency requirements.
For the House of Representatives, a candidate must be a resident of the district they seek to represent for at least one year prior to the election, according to the law.
Tagum questioned the timing of filing of the complaint, which was done several days before the elections.
“It is just political propaganda to frustrate the people in the 3rd district,” he added.*
