ANGELES CITY – Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan said yesterday he is filing this week electoral sabotage cases against his predecessor Francis “Blueboy” Nepomuceno who earlier sought a recount of mayoral votes cast in the May, 2010 elections here.
This, amid the rise of a smear campaign against Pamintuan, mostly being done through text messages apparently from Nepomuceno’s camp.
“When I took over as mayor, I accepted the literal and other forms of bankruptcy left behind by the previous administration and concentrate instead on rebuilding, but the black propaganda and disinformation from the other camp has continued,” Pamintuan said.
In the 2011 polls, Pamintuan, a former external affairs secretary of ex-Pres. Arroyo, ran under the banner of Lakas party in the last elections, got 59,404 votes, defeating then incumbent Nepomuceno of the Nationalist People Coalition (NPC) who obtained 33,206 votes.
Pamintuan noted that while Nepomuceno sought a recount of votes in precincts the latter identified, he later withdrew the electoral case after the recount only revealed tampered ballots that favored Nepomuceno.
“The tampering was so massive, mainly involving double shading, that the Comelec officials themselves said this is the first time they witnessed such massive tampering of ballots,” reported Patrick Sibug, one of the witnesses of the recount for Pamintuan.
The tampering, which apparently favored Nepomuceno, was uncovered in ballot boxes coming from the precincts in barangays Sapangbato, Pampang and Sta. Teresita, which were all “bailiwicks” of Pamintuan.
“To finally stop the black propaganda, I have decided to finally pursue the electoral sabotage case I initially dropped against Nepomuceno and his camp,” Pamintuan said.
Punto tried to contact Nepomuceno, but calls to his cellphone were not answered.
One text message, reportedly from his camp, accused the Pamintuan administration of handling the illegal drugs problem in the city, saying the city was awash with both pushers and users.
