Barangay Lantad, Silay City Negros Occidental Chairman Arnie Benedicto voluntarily turned himself in to authorities hours he was linked to a shooting incident in Barangay Mambulac, Silay City in which two people were killed on Election Day.
Silay City village chair in tagged in shooting turns self in
Published May 12, 2025 09:06 pm
Police Col. Rainerio de Chavez, Negros Occidental police, confirmed that Benedicto, assisted by his legal counsel, submitted himself for investigation on Monday afternoon.
He is currently under the custody of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-Negros Occidental in Bacolod City.
The barangay official has yet to release a statement about the incident.
De Chavez said that investigation is ongoing to determine Benedicto’s alleged participation in the killing.
Police are pursuing his two cohorts.
Police suspect the killing is election-related.
Follow-up investigation is ongoing.
The Commission on Elections-Negros Island Region (Comelec-NIR) said that the elections in Negros Occidental was relatively peaceful despite the incident.
Comelec-NIR Assistant Regional Director Jossil Macute said that there was no other reported act of violence or act of terrorism in the province.
Macue said authorities considered the incident in Silay City more of a peace and order concern rather than an electoral concern.
He said that it did not hamper the conduct of the elections in the city and did not affect the total conduct of the elections in the province. “It has little to minimal effect at all,” he added.
Macute said the incident happened a kilometer away from the polling center in Silay City, and did not result into any electoral concern as well as to other polling precincts.
“It just enhanced police and military presence which adds more security to the people there voting,” he added.
The incident was hyped on social media but it did not hamper the electoral process, according to Macute.
However, since it happened on Election Day, the incident was still counted as an election-related case as it involved supporters of a political candidate, Macute said.
Macute said that a thorough investigation is ongoing and assured that police is on top of everything.
With the incident, Macute said that they might raise the category of Silay City from green to yellow or with a history of election-related incidents, or orange category or areas with existence of serious armed threats, in the next elections.
The next election is the barangay in December.
Macute also said that they will investigate the alleged harassment and vote buying reports in the city, a day prior to the election, which circulated on social media.
He said that it is important for a complainant to execute an affidavit to have a basis for the investigation, and not just hearsay.