The committee for the fight against corruption of the Election Commission dismissed the allegations of bribery regarding the candidate for senator and representative of the Las-Pinias district, Camilla Villar. In a letter, the committee's chairman Teofisto Elnas Jr. stated that the statements by Villar regarding the origin of the bribe were satisfactory. "After reviewing the collected evidence, there is insufficient basis to initiate a case of violations of electoral legislation and/or petitions for disqualification," wrote Elnas.
Villar welcomed the decision in a press release, stating: "I thank the Election Commission for its timely issuance of this ruling, dismissing the complaint regarding vote buying." "I assure everyone that I run on a clean platform, solely advocating my principles aimed at the improvement of the lives of Filipinos," she added.
The committee earlier directed a referral to Villar regarding an anonymous complaint, which mentioned a video on Facebook, published on February 16. The video showed Villar appearing at a campaign event where local candidates were allegedly distributing cash. Villar clarified that the event took place on February 9, before the official election period began on February 11, and that she was merely a guest at the event.
