ILOILO City – Being found guilty of violating the election gun ban, Mayor John Lloyd Pacete of Bugasong, Antique surrendered to the police. Effective Monday, Vice Mayor Bernard Pesayco will be the town’s chief executive.
Pacete was detained in the San Jose District Jail in Barangay Binirayan Hills, San Jose, Antique on Friday.
His arrest came after the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 64 in Bugasong issued a four-page decision dated April 16 denying the motion for reconsideration the mayor filed on March 14.
Pacete prayed for the court’s reconsideration of its Feb. 27 decision convicting him of breaking the law that suspends all licenses to carry firearms outside of residences during election period.
The court denied the motion for lack of new issues.
In its recent decision, the RTC stated: “This court examined thoroughly all his arguments in the discussion he made in his motion. However, after a painstaking evaluation of the said arguments, this court found no new issues raised. All the issued discussed and argued by the accused-movant, through his counsel in the motion for reconsideration, had already been passed upon by this court in the assailed judgment. This court finds no compelling reason to disturb the assailed judgment.”
Aside from a maximum of two years of imprisonment, Pacete was also disqualified from holding public office and deprived of the right to vote.
The case against Pacete stemmed from a complaint that Chief Inspector Juvy Cordero of the Bugasong police station filed three years ago.
Pacete – vice mayor of Bugasong at the time – was charged with violating Comelec Resolution No. 10015 for not turning over a .45-caliber firearm to the police in April 2016.
“This court finds the accused John Lloyd Pacete guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violation of Comelec Resolution No. 10015 in relation to Section 261 of Batas Pambansa Bilang 881, as amended by Republic Act 7166,” read part of the Feb. 27 decision penned by Presiding Judge Mario Andres Jr./PN
