Commission on Elections (Comelec) chair George Garcia said the poll regulator is eyeing to hold the special elections in the third congressional district of Negros Oriental in the second week of December.
Garcia said the Comelec is looking at the said dates after the completion of the Barangay and SK Elections which is set for October 30.
Garcia, quoted by GMA News, said “The Commission on Elections can handle this after we finish the barangay and SK elections on October 30,” and added that the Comelec “already received the resolution and letter coming from the House of Representatives indicating that the seat of expelled Negros Oriental Representative Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves had been declared vacant and that the House was calling for special election in the district.”
The poll chief also said the Comelec had started the computation of the total expenses that would be in the conduct of the special elections. The printing of ballots for the special polls is expected to be completed by the end of September, he added.
A relative of slain Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo may seek election as third district representative to replace Teves who was recently expelled from Congress.
In an earlier report, Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo, the wife of the murdered governor, disclosed that “at least two cousins of the late governor have expressed interest in Teves’ vacated post.”
The mayor however said the family “is still looking for a way to only have one opposition candidate.”
“As the slain governor’s wife, I really hope we will be able to field even one candidate for our team. It saddens me when I see so many people interested because it reduces our chances of winning and giving the governor political justice as the votes will be divided,” Degamo, in an interview with ABS-CBN News, said.
The mayor said the potential candidates “are both the governor’s cousins.”
“They may have different family names but they are both people that we love and helped us in so many ways. That’s why I told them it was going to be hard because we love them both,” she said.
Degamo further said several allies were trying to convince her to run for the vacated congressional post, but she maintained that her priority was to obtain “political justice” for her husband, who was killed in an armed attack inside their private compound in Pamplona town last March.
Former Negros Oriental Governor Pryde Henry Teves was also reportedly eyeing to replace the expelled lawmaker, who is his older brother, and to return to the position he held between 2007 and 2016.
Earlier, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed criminal charges against Teves Jr. in connection with the killing of Degamo in March.
DOJ spokesman Mico Clavano said an arrest warrant will soon be issued against Teves for murder, frustrated murder and attempted murder cases before the Manila Regional Trial Court.
“The Degamo case has already been filed in Manila. It is before the court and we are awaiting the issuance of a warrant of arrest,” Clavano said in a press forum yesterday.
Pending the issuance of a warrant of arrest, Clavano said the solon, who has yet to return to the Philippines, could not be labeled as a fugitive.
Teves has been tagged as “one of the masterminds” in the killing of Degamo as well as for the deaths of nine other persons and the injuries sustained by 18 individuals.Teves, who has since been expelled as Negros Oriental lawmaker, has denied the allegations.
On May 17, the National Bureau of Investigation submitted to the DOJ the criminal complaints against Teves for his alleged involvement in the killing of Degamo and nine other people in Pamplona town in Negros Oriental.
Teves is also facing multiple murder complaints in Bayawan town for the killing of Negros Oriental board member Miguel Dungog and two others in 2019. The DOJ will ask the Supreme Court to order the transfer of the trial venue to Manila, Clavano said.
Teves’ legal counsel, Ferdinand Topacio, lamented the DOJ action as well as the decision of the House of Representatives to expel his client. The House has called on the Commission on Elections to hold a special election to fill the seat formerly held by Teves.