Bohol 1st district Rep. Edgar Chatto during a campaign sortie held ahead of the May 12 elections. | Photo grabbed from the Facebook page of Atty. Edgar Chatto
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) was asked to disqualify reelectionist Bohol 1st district Representative Edgar Chatto on accusations of vote-buying.
Three Boholanos, through their legal counsel Atty. Mark Dave Josol, acted as complaints against Chatto and alleged that the congressman, through his representatives, distributed envelopes containing P1, 000 cash stapled to campaign flyers with the message: “1 CHATTO EDGAR CONGRESSMAN.”
“This act is a blatant form of vote-buying and a grave threat to our democratic processes,” the petitioners said.
“We are filing this not only to uphold the integrity of the elections but also to ensure that future elections are free from coercion and corruption,” they added.
Chatto, a veteran politician and former Bohol governor, is seeking a third term in the midterm polls. While he is yet to comment on the disqualification case against him, Chatto gave the people of the 1st district of Bohol the assurance that if he wins a third term in office, he will make sure to work on projects and legislations that have remained unfinished.
“Sulod sa tulo ka tuig nga last term ni Edgar Chatto atong paningkamotan nga kung unsa man ang wala mahuman nga balaudnon ug proyekto para sa atong lungsod, sa Distrito Uno ug sa atong lalawigan sa Bohol, atong humanon sa tulo ka tuig,” he said in a Facebook post on May 9.
(Within the last years of the last term of Edgar Chatto, I will do my best to finish all the unfinished projects and legislations that will benefit the first district of the province of Bohol.)
Vote-buying
In the petition for disqualification that was received at the Comelec office in Intramuros, Manila, petitioners Sylvia Nistal Matig-a (Dauis), Vir Joshua Malubay (Calape), and Jose Pizarras Mascariñas (Loon) claimed that they received last May 11 P1, 000 cash that was stapled to a campaign material.
“The money and campaign material were distributed by persons acting for the Respondent saying,” ayaw kalimti si Cong.”
The petitioners said that the distribution of the cash was in violation of the Omnibus Election Code, which prohibits vote-buying that is defined as an act of “offering or giving money or anything of value to induce voters to support a particular candidate.”
Section 68 of the code says that he offense may be a ground for disqualification.