Provincial fiscal junks poll charges against Col. Loot

Citing lack of evidence, the Provincial Prosecutors’ Office has dismissed all three election-related charges filed against Sr. Supt. Vicente Loot, stepfather of elected Daanbantayan Mayor Sun Shimura.

Prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba approved the recommendation of assistant provincial prosecutor Luis Calderon that the charges filed by losing mayoralty candidate Augusto Corro be dismissed.

In an eight-page resolution, Calderon said there was no sufficient evidence to indict Loot for alleged violations of the Omnibus Election Code, such as when Loot allegedly entered a polling precinct in barangay Tomingjao during the last May 14 elections then in the canvassing hall.

Loot’s stepson Shimura ran against Corro for Daanbantayan mayor while his wife, Maria Luisa Loot, ran for vice mayor.

Corro alleged that Loot entered the polling precinct at 3 p.m., an act that he said was a violation of Section 192 of the Omnibus Election Code.

He also accused Loot of entering the Municipal Session Hall on May 16 when the canvassing of votes was still going on. This was a violation of election laws, Loot argued.

Loot denied all the allegations of Corro, insisting that he never went inside the Tomingjao polling place and had only went to look for the barangay captain.

Loot also denied going inside the canvassing area in the town hall but stayed only outside the establishment.

The chairman of the Municipal Board of Canvassers, lawyer Federico Sanchez, and several other witnesses executed affidavits that corroborated Loot’s defense.

Calderon said that even if granting that Loot went inside the polling precinct at 3pm on May 14, still he violated no law because the voting stopped already by that time. — Fred P. Languido/RAE