Ten people were arrested by the police Saturday night for allegedly distributing envelopes containing P200 bills to residents of Bacoor City, Cavite.
Arrested were Teresita Marjes, Irene Morales, Elsie Alano, Jayson Alab, Rex del Rosario, Jose de Leon, Gregorio Tamio, Michael Omedes, Joselino Villa, and Jowel Sale.
Five of those arrested were allegedly employees at city hall, but police declined to confirm the information.
Police Col. Lawrence Cajipe, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Calabarzon police Regional Field Unit, said operatives nabbed the suspects after a concerned citizen saw them allegedly distributing small brown envelopes to residents in Barangay Zapote 5 around 6 p.m.
The suspects were campaigning for Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla and Vice Gov. Jolo Revilla, according to police.
Acting on the complaints by concerned citizens, a team of policemen proceeded to the area where they caught the suspects allegedly in the act of distributing envelopes.
The amount of the seized envelopes totaled P75,800. Police also seized cash worth P83,500, a plastic bag containing red wristbands with markings “FIX m,” two pieces of white T-shirts with printed words “Tapat sa Bayan, Tapat sa Usapan,” “Jonvic Remulla Gobernador” and “Jolo Revilla Bise-Gobernador” in the front and “Vote WOW 169 PILIPINAS” at the back; and a red notebook containing names of persons.
The Cavite governor, who is seeking reelection, denied that there was vote-buying.
In a post on his Facebook page, Remulla said that the money was intended as “travel allowances” for their “campaign watchers.”
Remulla confirmed that he had just finished a campaign rally in Barangay Zapote 5 when he learned of the arrest made by the CIDG.
“As per practice for every election, we have watchers training everyday for the next few days leading to the elections. The watchers are duly accredited and trained together with a reporting app attached to their smart phones. In the process of distributing their travel allowance for next week’s training, they were raided, accosted, and arrested with no charges,” Remulla said.
Last week, a photo of a white T-shirt which matched the description of the paraphernalia seized from the 10 suspects made the rounds online when Twitter user Jeremy @jrmy_stll posted it on social media.
In the Twitter post, both Remulla and Revilla were accused of vote-buying.
However, Remulla said each party is entitled to a watcher per precinct.
He added that his party “can produce the app which details the operation of the watchers.” He also stressed that they “are looking forward to a clean and proper elections.”
“We do not need to buy votes. We are comfortable with our standings,” he stated.
Remulla also hopes that “the authorities will use their powers judiciously” as he said his party welcomes the police “to watch and observe our watchers’ training next week.”