SPO4 Demetrio Magbanua, acting chief of Banga police station, said Barangay Liwanay chair Mariano Punla and his supporters brought to the police station at around 10 a.m. a certain Butch de Solis whom they allegedly caught in the act of buying some votes.
"They complained that he was distributing cash along with some campaign materials at the polling center," he said.
Magbanua said several residents reportedly received P20 to P100 bills from Solis supposedly in exchange for voting his candidate.
Solis, however, laughed off the accusations saying he was mer
ely handing some leaflets to voters queuing at the polling center when he was accosted by Punla's supporters.
But Punla said they have evidences that Solis really tried to buy off the votes of some residents in their village. "We will file charges against him and whoever is backing him up for violation of election laws," he said.
A candidate for councilor of Barangay Rizal in Banga also filed a complaint before the police station claiming he was threatened and a gun was pointed at him by a supporter of a candidate for barangay chair early this morning.
Jonathan Mariveles, who is running for barangay councilor, claimed a supporter of barangay chair bet Bito Mendoza pointed a gun at him after he tried to stop them from campaigning near his house at around 4:45 am today.
Mariveles, who is also chair of Purok Malipayon, said he initially confronted several supporters of Mendoza campaigning near his home early this morning for violating the ban on campaigning on election day.
But he said one of Mendoza's supporters, identified as Eduardo Embedia, approached him and pointed a gun to his face.
"He also issued threats to me and my supporters," he said.
Mariveles said he is planning to file a complaint against Embedia and Mendoza at the Comelec and Philippine National Police for violation of the firearms ban and provisions of the Omnibus Election Code and the Fair Election Act. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)
