LUCENA CITY, Philippines – Police arrested a suspected vote buyer in Tagkawayan town in Quezon province late Tuesday afternoon, police said.
Suspect Fredilino Cunanan, 45, was reportedly driving a motorcycle when he was flagged down at an election checkpoint along the Quirino Highway in Barangay Tabason at about 5 p.m.
Cunanan was not wearing a helmet, according to Police Major Milo Tabernilla, Tagkawayan police chief, said in a report Wednesday.
When Cunanan opened his body bag to show his driver’s license and motorcycle document, several folded sample ballots stapled with P500 bill each accidentally fell out and caught the attention of authorities.
A total of 13 pieces of sample ballots with a P500 bill each was seized from the suspect.
The police report said the sample ballots bore the names of Tagkawayan mayoral candidate Roberto “Bommel” de Vero and his ticket.
The suspect was detained at the town police jail.
Tabernilla said the suspect admitted owning the money and the sample ballots which were allegedly given to him by De Vero.
“If he decided to execute an affidavit and pointed to whoever gave him the money and the sample ballot, he will be charged not as a vote buyer but vote seller,” Tabernilla said in a phone interview.
The Inquirer called and texted De Vero, but he has yet to reply. /cbb