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Albee asks Comelec to deny petition to cancel COC

Former Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez is asking the Commission on Elections First Division to deny the petition seeking the cancellation of his certificate of candidacy (COC) for mayor of Bacolod for utter lack of merit.

The Comelec First Division is set to hold the preliminary conference for the petition on Wednesday, November 24.

The petitioners Hector Yula, Teodoro Abao and Jonah Tornea Abao in their petition dated October 25 asked the COMELEC to cancel the COC of Benitez “on the ground of material misrepresentation“of his residence.

They also claimed he failed to comply with the one-year residency requirement.

Benitez, in his verified answer to the petition, pointed out that the three had filed similar petitions earlier questioning his residency before the Bacolod Election Registration Board (ERB) and the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) that were both dismissed.

“Respondent has already established by clear, convincing and insurmountable evidence before the ERB and the MTCC that he is a resident of Mountainview Subdivision, Barangay Mandalagan, Bacolod City, and that he has established his domicile therein for at least a year before the day of the elections,” his verified answer stated.*

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