A petition seeking the exclusion of former Rep. Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez from the list of registered voters of Bacolod City has been filed by three Grupo Progreso allies before the Municipal Trial Court in Cities.
“They don’t want me to reach the elections, they want to rob the people’s right to choose their leader,” Benitez said.
Benitez has announced that he is running for mayor of Bacolod in 2022 against incumbent Evelio Leonardia of Grupo Progreso.
The petition was filed against Benitez and the Bacolod Election Registration Board (ERB) composed of Bacolod Elections Officer Kathrina Trinio-Caña, City Civil Registrar Hermilo Pa-oyon and Schools Superintendent Gladys Amelaine Sales.
Petitioners Hector Yula, Teodoro Abao and Jonah Tornea Abao want Benitez excluded from the list of registered voters of Precinct No. 0629A in Barangay Mandalagan, Bacolod.
Benitez said the petition was filed by the same people who opposed his transfer of voter registration before the Bacolod ERB, which was dismissed.
“It is a rehashed petition that the ERB members ruled on unanimously, I am confident that it will be dismissed,” Benitez said.
On April 22, Benitez filed an application for transfer of his voter registration from Victorias City to Barangay Mandalagan in Bacolod City, and on July 13 the petitioners filed their opposition on the grounds that Benitez is not a resident of Bacolod City.
On July, 23 the ERB denied the opposition filed by the petitioners and approved the transfer of registration of Benitez.
In their latest petition filed before the MTCC on September 21, the petitioners said the ERB gravely erred when it approved the application of Benitez to vote in Barangay Mandalagan, for his failure to prove the transfer of residence prior to his registration.*