Porac mayor linked to Pogo asks Comelec to reconsider disqualification
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Mayor-elect Jaime “Jing” Capil of Porac, Pampanga, on Friday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to reconsider the poll body’s Second Division’s May 28 resolution disqualifying him from running in the May 12 elections.
Capil said he filed the motion for reconsideration (MR) since the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman dated April 3, 2025, which was the basis of Comelec’s order, was not yet final and could be the reason to disqualify him from the elections.
“My votes cannot be considered stray,” Capil added in a text message to the Inquirer on Friday, referring to one of the orders of the Second Division.
His MR, filed at 12:15 p.m. before Comelec en banc, came with an urgent motion to cancel the June 3 session of the municipal board of canvassers (MBOC).
Porac Election Officer Lizette Mallari on Wednesday issued a notice to reconvene the MBOC, which she chairs, on June 3 to “implement and administer” the Comelec Second Division’s resolution, which ordered the MBOC to make the necessary corrections in the certificate of canvass of votes and proclamation; and, proclaim the candidate with the highest number of valid votes.
On Friday, however, Mallari canceled her order to reconvene the MBOC, citing the MR filed by Capil.
Capil won his reelection bid by garnering 39,939 votes against his closest rival, Michael Tapang, who received 23,063 votes.
Capil was proclaimed winner by the MBOC, along with his vice mayoral running mate and daughter, Vice Mayor-elect Jen Capil, and had taken their oath of office last May 22.
Capil proceeded with his reelection bid despite an April 3 order from the Office of the Ombudsman to permanently bar him from government service after finding him guilty of gross neglect of duty for failing to regulate the illegal operations and criminal activities of Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) Lucky South 99, which was raided June 4 and June 5 last year.
Authorities have closed the 46 buildings of Lucky South in a 10-hectare property inside the Grand Palazzo Royale in the boundary of Porac and Angeles City following complaints of torture, prostitution, human trafficking and financial scams on top of violations of terms in its contract with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.
Predisposition
Capil has a pending motion for reconsideration before the antigraft body—the reason why he said his dismissal was not yet final.
But on May 28, the Comelec Second Division granted the petition of Tapang to disqualify Capil on the basis of the April 3 decision of the Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman has held Capil liable for a series of incidents that allegedly “demonstrated his predisposition to favor the grant and continued operation of Lucky South 99 as Pogo in Porac at all costs despite the unfavorable odds against it.”
The Ombudsman noted that Capil had met Katherine Cassandra Li Ong, incorporator of Whirlwind Corp. that supposedly leased the land to Lucky South, in a cafe in Angeles City in October 2019 and introduced her to municipal councilors.
It said a special session was held in a restaurant by the council “with undue haste” after it received a Lucky South 99 request for a letter of no objection for a business process outsourcing.
These include the “undisclosed reason of Mayor Capil’s inaction or rather conscious disregard” of a report and recommendation to “deny the renewal” of Lucky South 99’s business permit application in the year 2020; and the mayor’s decision in to renew Lucky South’s business permit in 2023, “which extended beyond the expiration date of Lucky South 99’s Pogo license.”
The decision also noted the “lack of monitoring and oversight supervision of Lucky South 99’s operation” even after the local police had submitted several reports to his office about the Pogo hub’s illegal activities.
Capil is also facing graft charges filed by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission.
