Pampanga mayor denies hand in burning of ballot boxes

Sun.Star: MABALACAT Mayor Marino Morales said there is no truth to reports that he masterminded the burning of ballots that were stored inside a room at the back of the Municipal Hall. Morales said he would not resort to an "evil" work similar to the incident. He was elected and already proclaimed mayor of the town. According to him, he was shocked upon learning about the incident. Mabalacat Election Officer Joselito Matias earlier said more than half of the 399 ballot boxes were razed in a fire that broke out at a storage room on Thursday. The ballot boxes contained election returns and ballots cast during the last elections. Morales denounced the incident, saying he was saddened by it. He also appealed to his constituents not to be speculative about the incident. "Let us wait for the outcome of the investigation being conducted by the PNP and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP)," he said. Authorities are looking into an arson case in the incident after witnesses revealed that a group of people arrived in the area before the incident. The "unharmed" or saved ballots were transferred to the PNP Headquarters in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga Provincial Election Officer Temmie Lambino said. Mabalacat Fire Marshal Jimmy Suba said an investigation is still ongoing and that the witnesses are still being interrogated. Sun.Star Pampanga earlier learned that a certain "Sibal" ordered the assigned ballot guards to leave the Municipal Hall before the fire incident happened. Police said Sibal might have something to do with the burning of the ballots. Losing Pampanga gubernatorial candidate and Board Member Lilia Pineda previously filed an election protest before the Commission on Elections (Comelec), claiming that there were irregularities in the canvassing of votes during the last elections, particularly in Mabalacat and other Pampanga towns. Aside from Pineda, Morales's rival in the town's mayoralty race, businessman Anthony Dee and his running mate Victor Tiglao, filed two separate election cases before the Angeles City Regional Trial Court (RTC). - Sun.Star