BACOLOD City – Three residents of Barangay Mandalagan are challenging the transfer of voter’s registration of former Negros Occidental 3rd District congressman Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez from Victorias City to Bacolod City.
They are questioning, among others, Benitez’s Bacolod residency and his cedula.
In his application to transfer his voter’s registration, the former congressman stated he was residing at Mountain View Subdivision in Barangay Mandalagan.
In their complaint/petition filed on July 13 before the election registration board (ERB) of the Commission on Elections (Comelec-Bacolod), Hector Yula, Teodoro Abao and Jonah Abao stated they were long-time residents of Barangay Mandalagan but they have never seen Benitez “in the vicinity of his purported residence address.”
“Neither have we seen Mr. Benitez or any member of his family, much less his wife or his children, engaging themselves or participating in any community, civil or social activities of our barangay,” they further stated.
‘CEDULA’
In a press conference called by the three petitioners on July 14, their legal counsels Atty. Jose Jireh Alimon and Atty. Marcus Aurelian Vaflor also questioned Benitez’s cedula.
They said the P525 paid for the cedula was far too small for Benitez’s net worth they estimated to be about P1 billion.
The community tax is computed at P5 plus P1 for every P1,000 earned in a year.
Attached to the complaint/petition was an affidavit (Annex F) of a clerk of the Barangay Council of Mandalagan, Ma. Carmel Padrillan who issued the community tax certificate or cedula.
According to Padrillan, on April 30, 2021 she issued a cedula in the name of Benitez and wrote the amount to be paid, P525, “since his declared annual income for 2020 as per the information I got from Tabusares was only P500,000.”
Mildred Tabusares was a fellow barangay clerk of Padrillan stationed outside their barangay hall. It was her who told Padrillan that “someone was requesting a cedula.”
“After she gave me a small of piece of paper which contained the applicant’s information, I wrote the said information on the cedula with CTC No. 23275326 to reflect this Mr. Benitez’s information, including his name , address, date of birth, among others,” stated Padrillan.
According to the legal counsels of the petitioners, the cedula was used in Benitez’s application for an electrical permit with Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco).
The electrical permit application was another point the lawyers raised to bolster their clients’ claim that Benitez does not have residence in Bacolod City.
The application sought to have a separate meter of an existing residential building, they said.
This means, according to the lawyers, that Benitez has yet to establish the electrical connection to wherever he intends to reside.
The legal counsels further claimed to have secured a certification from Prime Water/Baciwa that the area Benitez is claiming to be residing has no water connection.
Benitez stated in his application to transfer his voter’s registration that he resides on Mt. Canlaon Street, Mountain View Subdivision, Barangay Mandalagan.
According to the lawyers, these are undeveloped lots purchased only on April 19, 2021.
Benitez filed his application for transfer of voter’s registration on April 21, 2021.
Comelec-Bacolod election officer Kathrina Caña confirmed having received a petition against Benitez’s voter’s registration transfer.
Caña chairs Comelec-Bacolod’s election registration board (ERB). She said the ERB will conduct a hearing on July 19. Benitez would be given the chance to answer.
Caña said only the petitioners and Benitez would be allowed to attend, citing the necessity to observe health safety protocols due to the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic.
Reached for his comment, Benitez said, “The opposition against the transfer of my voter’s registration is to be expected.”
“I am confident those moves will not prosper as all requirements of the law have been fully complied,” he added.
There is speculation that Benitez will run for mayor against incumbent Mayor Evelio Leonardia./PN
