Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 11) — The assassination of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo is not just a question of what caused the crime, but also of the Commission on Election’s (Comelec) role in ensuring a clean conduct of elections, a senator said.
“It’s a matter also of the sense of urgency and the timing of the action of the constitutional body charged to conduct not just free, fair, and honest, but peaceful elections,” Sen. Risa Hontiveros told CNN Philippines’ The Source on Tuesday..
Senator Bato dela Rosa’s Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs is set to conduct a hearing on the murder of Degamo on April 17.
Hontiveros said one angle she wants to investigate is the relation between the murder and the decision of the Comelec to declare Degamo as the winner in the recent gubernatorial race after declaring one of his rivals a nuisance candidate.
“Could this slay of Governor Roel have been avoided if the nuisance candidate had been declared such earlier on?” she asked.
Prior to the decision of the Supreme Court in February affirming Degamo’ s win, the Comelec in September 2022 nullified the victory of then-Negros Oriental Gov. Pryde Teves during the May 9 gubernatorial election.
The case started after another candidate, Grego Gaudia, used the name \”Ruel Degamo\” in the ballots.
He was declared a nuisance bet in December 2021 by the Comelec First Division, but his lawyer filed a temporary restraining order to have his name included in the ballot.
A few months later, Degamo and eight others were killed in the governor’ s residence in Pamplona town on March 4.
READ: Remulla on Degamo assassination: ‘Case closed’
One of the masterminds being tagged in the case is Pryde’s brother, Negros Oriental Congressman Arnolfo Teves. Both have denied any involvement in the murder.
For Hontiveros, the murder could have been prevented if the name of the nuisance candidate was not printed on the ballots in the first place.
Given the intense political rivalry in the country, the Comelec “would do an even greater service by adding an ingredient of coolness rather than further heat,” she noted.
