Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Monday, June 9, he hopes the fatal Election Day shooting incident in Silay City, Negros Occidental would serve as a lesson not only in the involved barangay, but also in the entire region.
“I hope the case that happened in Silay would be a learning lesson. Not just in the barangay but in the entire Negros Island Region (NIR) and definitely, there is a case. Therefore, we will handle the case properly and hope we will be able to resolve the case immediately,” Garcia said in a press conference at Seda Capitol Central in Bacolod City the sidelines of a Comelec’s post-election evaluation meeting,
However, he believes the violent incident in Silay City in the last national and local elections should not be the basis of what the Comelec would do in the upcoming Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE).
“Although there was an incident in Silay, in my opinion, this should not be the basis for what the Comelec will do when the barangay and SK elections come. It is sad that there is such violence,” Garcia said.
Commissioner Ernesto Ferdinand Maceda Jr. echoed the Comelec chairman’s statement but said they will not forget the Silay City incident in terms of dealing with vote-buying.
“We’re not going to look back and see what happened in the past as far as our actions in addressing violence is concerned. But as far as vote-buying is concerned, which is an equal initiative of ours, we will not forget what happened in Silay because what happened in Silay happened in a vote-buying context,” he added.
Maceda noted that in Silay City at the time, the citizens there were more vigilant and were watching or guarding against the vote-buying they thought was going to happen.
“It was bittersweet, hindi natuloy ang vote-buying but it was at the cost of the lives of some people, of our countrymen. In order to honor or not to forget their sacrifice, we will make sure that in the BSKE, the area where this happened, we will focus the spotlight on them to make sure hindi na mauulit ang ganyang pangyayari (the incident will not happen again),” he added.
Around 7 a.m. on May 12, police investigation showed that Lantad village chief Arnie Benedicto, along with unidentified men, fired their guns in front of a political headquarters in Purok Ipil-Ipil, Barangay Mambulac, killing two persons and wounding seven others.
The victims were supposedly keeping an eye out for alleged vote-buying in the area, it added.
Benedicto and three others were charged with murder and frustrated murder in court.*PNA