Then Pamplona, Negros Oriental Mayor Janice Degamo during the Senate hearing on the assassination of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo in Pasay City on May 11, 2023. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File 

MANILA — Pamplona town mayor Janice Degamo, wife of slain Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo, topped the congressional race in the third district of the province.

Janice beat her two opponents with 125,738 votes, based on partial and unofficial results from Commission on Elections data, as of 9:30 a.m., May 14. 

Janice Teves got 63,923 votes while Reynaldo Lopez received 25,310 votes.

In a Facebook post Tuesday following her proclamation, Janice Degamo thanked her supporters "who used their vote to make a statement that never again will they live in fear and never will they forget the murder of my beloved husband Governor Roel Degamo."

In March 2023, Roel Degamo was killed in an armed attack inside his private compound in Barangay San Isidro, Pamplona.

Arnolfo Teves Jr., former Negros Oriental representative and political rival of Degamo, was tagged as one of the alleged masterminds in the killing of the governor.

He has denied the allegation.

The Philippine government has been working on the extradition of Teves Jr., who is in Timor-Leste. Recent attempts failed, with Timor-Leste favoring the camp of the former congressman.

The court noted the "well-founded risk of being subjected to torture, inhuman and degrading or cruel treatment" as the reason to reject the extradition.