• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A suspect was intercepted and arrested at a checkpoint on Saturday in Barangay Lutao, Bacong, Negros Oriental, for alleged vote buying.
Romnick Viola Adalim, 36, who was driving a black XRM Honda motorcycle, when flagged down at a police checkpoint by troopers of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion for not wearing a helmet.
When he was asked to present the documents for his motorcycle, Adalim opened his utility box.
Upon inspection, the police saw 39 envelopes stapled with sample ballots with the names of candidates for the May 12 elections, containing P900 each, and nine more white envelopes, containing sample ballots but without cash.
A total of P35,100 cash, with sample ballots, was confiscated by the police.
Adalim faces charges for violation of Commission on Elections Resolution No. 11104 or the “Kontra-Bigay” policy.
In a statement, PBrig. Gen. Arnold Thomas Ibay, regional police director of Police Regional Office Negros Island Region, reiterated the commitment to ensuring a clean, honest, and orderly elections by strictly enforcing election laws and upholding the integrity of the electoral process in the region.*
