Toledo City election officer caught inside former workplace

CEBU, Philippines - Election Officer Michael Angelo Sarno got a taste of how zealous the public can be when it comes to the May 9 elections.

Several of them prevented him from leaving the Toledo City Commission on Elections office Tuesday night as he was supposed to be no longer working there.

The police was alerted of his presence in his former workplace and he was invited for questioning while residents, who believed he brought out sensitive documents, prevented him from leaving by surrounding his car.

Superintendent Samuel Mina, Toledo Police Station Chief, said Sarno was invited for questioning upon the complaint of residents on his presence at Toledo City Comelec office even if he was already reassigned in southern Cebu.

A crowd gathered in front of the Comelec office late Tuesday night until midnight demanding for the election officer to show them the contents of his car.

The crowd would not let Sarno leave and had surrounded his car.

Mina tried to pacify them but they demanded that they should be allowed to look into the documents that Sarno brought out of the Comelec office.

Mina said he had no authority to do so, so he called up lawyer Gallardo Escobar, Toledo City election officer, to tell him of the situation.

In a telephone interview, Escobar said that when he received Mina's first call, he thought that the situation was already under the control of the police.

Mina, however, called him again, this time asking him to come to the Toledo City Comelec office to help pacify the residents.

Escobar drove all the way from his house in Talisay City some 45 kilometers away to get a clear picture of the incident.

When he arrived, he spoke with Mina and Sarno, who agreed that his car would be searched by Escobar.

After the search, Escobar said he could only find a case folder and several documents like Comelec resolutions and training materials inside Sarno's car.

The documents, Escobar said, were almost the exact documents he too always brings with him as election officer.

Escobar said that he had no idea that the former election officer went inside the Comelec office.

He said his staff, who were former co-workers of Sarno, went home at 9 p.m. Tuesday night while Sarno allegedly arrived past 10 p.m. to finish some documents that he had left in Toledo City prior to his reassignment for the May 9 elections.

"Naay gi-print, nahuman siya alas 12. Ang security naalarma kay nganong naa man siya diha," Escobar said.

He said Sarno still had his things at the Comelec office because after the May 9 elections all of the election officers will return back to their usual assignment, and in the case of Sarno it is the Toledo City Comelec office.

Mina said that after the search Escobar did inside Sarno's vehicle, the people dispersed walked out of the police station.

In a separate interview, Marchel Sarno, also a former Cebu City north district election officer, said his brother, Michael Angelo, had only wanted to get some documents and he was requested to do it.

He called his brother to go back in Cebu to answer the queries relating to the matter.  This early, he said that if someone would later accuse his brother of getting important documents from the Toledo City Comelec office, he or she should be specific .

"Specific unsay gikuha.  If documents, unsa nga document. Kaning mamakak gud mo-go into general terms.  Let’s go specific, ug kanang document ma-edit ba na or magamit ba na sa elections," he said. — (FREEMAN)