• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Despite the disqualification complaint filed against her over residency issue, Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo remains a legitimate candidate for the Negros Oriental third district congressional seat in the May 12 polls, an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said yesterday.
Comelec-Negros Island regional director Lionel Marco Castillano said that he has not received a copy of the complaint.
“We will only have a copy, if we will be ordered by the Comelec to serve the summon to the respondent,” he said, adding the possibility that it was filed directly before the Comelec Secretariat.
Castillano said that he doesn’t know the identity of the petitioner.
Mayor Degamo, widow of the slain Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo, is facing a disqualification complaint before the Comelec regarding her residency in Siaton town, which is part of the third congressional district.
She is running against Janice Teves Gaston, aunt of Negros Oriental gubernatorial candidate Pryde Henry Teves and ousted Rep. Arnolfo Teves.
Castillano assured voters of the Negros Oriental third district that “there is no disruption to the choice of congressional candidates in that area.”
Andrei Bon Tagum, counsel for Mayor Degamo, in a phone interview with Negros Occidental media said that they have not received any complaint against his client.
Tagum clarified that Mayor Degamo filed a transfer of voter registration to Siaton on May 6, 2024, as she intended to run for a congressional post in the district.
He said the Degamo couple has a house in Barangay Bonawon, where the late governor was buried and where their family is also running a fishing business.
When she ran for mayor of Pamplona, which belongs to the Negros Oriental second congressional district, Mayor Degamo also complied with the residency requirements, Tagum said.
For the House of Representatives, a candidate must be a resident of the district they seek to represent for at least one year prior to the election, according to the law.
Tagum questioned the timing of filing of the complaint, which was done several days before the May 12 elections.
“It is just a political propaganda to frustrate the people in the third district,” he added. | GB
