An election official dismissed as hearsay about vote-buying complaints being filed at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Mandaue office.

Evelyn Cueva, Comelec Mandaue election officer, told SunStar Cebu in an interview on Friday, May 20, 2022, that they have not yet received any formal complaints

about vote-buying in the city during the May 9 election.

She added that for the complaint to be strong enough and justifiable, complainants need to have enough evidence to prove their claim.

"If they have formal complaints against vote-buying, then they can go directly to court to file it," she said in Cebuano.

But lawyer Michael Angelo Sarno, election officer IV of Comelec Mandaue, reiterated that claims that are based on hearsays and without concrete evidence are very

difficult to prove.

Section 261(a) of Batas Pambansa Bilang 881, otherwise known as the Omnibus Election Code, considered the act of vote-buying and vote-selling as election offenses

punishable under the election laws.

Under the code, violators shall be punished with an imprisonment of not less than one year but not more than six years and shall not be subject to probation.

So far, some of the politicians who claimed vote-buying as the main reason for their defeat were mayoralty candidates Allan Bucao of Talisay City, Mary Therese “Teche”

Sitoy-Cho of Cordova, and Nilo "Olin" Seno of Mandaue City, Cebu.

However, none of these claims were proven, and most of their opponents denied the allegations of doing the act. (HIC, TPT)