PANGASINAN Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil WILLIE LOMIBAO / CONTRIBUTOR
LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—Reelectionist Pangasinan Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil and his brother, Lingayen Councilor Ramon Bataoil, are facing charges for grave threats, kidnapping and violation of election laws.
This was after a man, whose identity was withheld for security reasons, filed the complaints through his lawyer in the provincial prosecutor’s office on Friday.
Carl Sha Jemimah Marbella, the man’s lawyer, said they filed grave threats and kidnapping cases against Councilor Bataoil and a vote-buying case against Representative Bataoil.
The lawmaker denied the charges, saying these were desperate acts to discredit him.
Representative Bataoil is seeking reelection under the Nationalist People’s Coalition against former Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption Rep. Kim Bernardo-Lokin of the Liberal Party.
In his complaint, the man said he was traveling to this town with a friend when they saw supporters of the Bataoils distributing grocery items in Barangay (village) Libsong East.
Detained
He said he went out of the car and took pictures of the people distributing the goods, but one of the Bataoils’ supporters saw him. To avoid being held, he said he boarded a passing pedicab but a van later blocked its path.
He said he immediately transferred to a tricycle driven by a friend but two men who had alighted from the van caught up with him and asked in Filipino, “Why are you taking pictures? Come with us, we will bring you to the councilor.”
He said he was forcibly taken to the house of Councilor Bataoil, which was also in the village, where he was detained for more than an hour.
He said the councilor asked his name and mobile phone number. “Then he told me [in Pangasinan], ‘You cannot leave this place until you give us your camera. I’ll buy it for P10,000. Or would you like a wake (lamayan ka na lang)?”
Lokin said the distribution of grocery items by the Bataoils’ supporters happened in the villages of Libsong East and West at 9 a.m. on Thursday.
Luncheon meat
She said the items, which consisted of noodles and luncheon meat in a plastic bag, were distributed in each house in the village by a group wearing green shirts marked, “Volunteers of Leopoldo Bataoil.”
On Friday, Representative Bataoil said his supporters had noticed a vehicle going around the vicinity of their campaign headquarters on Thursday. Alarmed, Bataoil said his supporters tried to find out who were in the vehicle. “But instead of identifying themselves, they sped away, alarming more my supporters,” he said.
He said they were able to write down the vehicle’s plate number and found out from the Land Transportation Office that it was registered in San Pablo City in Laguna. “So what’s this vehicle doing in Libsong, in the vicinity of my headquarters?” Bataoil asked.
When the vehicle sped away, one of the men was left behind and was accosted by Bataoil’s supporters. He was taken to the Lingayen police station for questioning.
Bataoil also denied accusations of vote-buying. “I have trust and confidence in my campaigners that they will campaign in accordance with the law. If somebody did it, it has to be investigated because I will not tolerate it. I will not tolerate any relative of mine or even a supporter [who] resort to that kind of operation,” Bataoil said. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon