Man nabbed with 2 guns, sample ballots with stapled money in Cebu City

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CEBU CITY, Philippines — A 25-year-old man from Balamban town was arrested with two firearms and 11 sample ballots of a local political party in Cebu City where at least two of these sample ballots were stapled with P100,

The man was caught in a checkpoint in Barangay Lusaran, Cebu City, on Saturday night, May 7, 2022.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy director for operations and the officer-in-charge of the City Mobile Force Company (CMFC), identified this person as Jerwin Laguna, 25 of Barangay Ginatilan, Balamban.

Parilla said that Laguna was on board his motorcycle when the checkpoint was conducted. He could not tell for now if Laguna was on his way home to Balamban or not pending their investigation.

This Commission on Election (Comelec) checkpoint was conducted by the personnel of the Cebu City Mobile Force Company on Saturday night in Barangay Lusaran, a mountain barangay in Cebu City.

Police were able to confiscate one S&W .357 magnum revolver with ammunition and one Colt .45 pistol from the suspect. 

Also, they were able to confiscate 11 sample ballots printed with some candidates from a local party in Cebu City wherein two of these ballots were stapled with P100 each.

Here are the sample ballots of a local party – some of them stapled with P100 cash – that was confiscated by police from a Balamban resident in a checkpoint in Barangay Lusaran, Cebu City on May 7. | Contributed photo

CDN Digital tried to reach out to the concerned local party regarding this, but we have yet to receive a response from them as of this posting.

Parilla said that complaints against Laguna would be filed on Tuesday, May 10, where he would be facing charges of violating the gun ban and illegal possession of firearms.

Aside from that he said that Laguna would also be facing a charge of violation of Presidential Decree 247 or PD 247.

“PD 247…usa sa iyang elemento ani nga bisan lang og pag staple or paggamit ug adhesive unya ibutang sa banknotes. It’s already a violation of PD 247,” Parilla said.

(PD 247…One of the elements of this is to stable or use an adhesive on banknotes. It’s already a violation of PD 247.)

Laguna is currently detained at the Talamban Police Station.

Parilla said that the suspect did not issue any statement during their interrogation.

He said that they could not rule out vote-buying in this incident.

“Possible nga duna say nagkupot aning mga bataa sa mountain barangays. We are digging it up og unsa katinuod nga naay grupo sa taas,” he said.

(It is possible that someone is running this people in the mountain barangays. We are digging it up and find out how true if there really is such a group there.)

Parilla said that they would submit a report to the city’s Comelec office and it would be up to the Comelec on what would be their take on this.

Despite this, Parilla assured the public that the residents could freely cast their vote on Monday , May 9, as the city remained safe and secured.

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