Isabela town mayor disqualified for vote-buying

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday disqualified a winning mayoral candidate in Isabela province due to vote-buying.

Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez said on Twitter that Roxas town Mayor Benedict Calderon was disqualified by the poll body's first division.

Benedict Calderon, Mayor of Roxas, Isabela, disqualified by the 1st Division; vote-buying. [Original tweet gave Mayor's name as Benjamin.]

— James Jimenez (@jabjimenez) October 8, 2013

Jimenez further explained in his Tumblr account that affidavits of witnesses and video clippings of vote-buying activities lead to no other conclusion than that election offense indeed took place.

In the May 2013 elections, Calderon of the National People's Coalition received 10,415 votes defeating independent candidate Harry Soller, who got 6,067 votes.

Calderon is already the fourth local official to be disqualified by the Comelec in just three weeks.

The same poll body division earlier disqualified Laguna Gov. ER Ejercito for campaign overspending and Norzagaray, Bulacan Mayor Alfredo Gemera and Councilor Rogelio Santos, Jr.

The two Bulacan officials are from President Aquino's Liberal Party while Ejercito is from the opposing United Nationalist Alliance.