MANILA – The Philippine Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed a decision which imposed a six-month jail term on an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), who is identified as a “protege” of the powerful clan implicated in the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao two weeks ago.
In a unanimous decision, the 15-member SC upheld the ruling of the Comelec which cited Lintang Bedol, the election supervisor of Maguindanao, for contempt and sentenced him to serve six months in jail.
In addition, Bedol was ordered to pay a fine equivalent to $20 for his failure to attend the canvass of the Maguindanao provincial votes on May 22, 2007, or eight days after the May 14, 2007 midterm elections.
Bedol has been identified as a “protege” of the Ampatuan clan, headed by its patriarch Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan, who was reportedly behind his appointment as the election supervisor in the province.
In turn, national and Mindanao officials have traced the rise in power of the Ampatuans to their close association with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo since she took over Malacanang in January 2001 following the ouster of then president Joseph Estrada.
In citing Bedol for contempt, the Comelec also noted his unlawful custody of the certificates of canvass of the 22 towns of Maguindanao, instead of submitting these to the poll agency’s main office in the historic district of Intramuros (Spanish walled city) in Manila.
Bedol, the Comelec said, also snubbed its order to appear before a taxk force created to investigate complaints of alleged massive cheating and fraud in the May 2007 elections, which showed 12 administration senatorial candidates lording it over their opposition rivals.
Bedol elevated the Comelec decision to the High Court which, however, dismissed his petition questioning the poll agency’s authority to investigate and cite him for contempt.
But even before Bedol appealed the decision to the SC, the Comelec already issued a warrant for his arrest for contempt.
He has since disappeared, however, with the Maguindanao police reporting to the Comelec that they could not find Bedol at his residence or in other places, particularly in Central Mindanao where he would often go.
Reliable Comelec sources, who are familiar with the case but who requested anonymity, revealed that Bedol could have already left the country with the assistance of his “benefactors” whom they did not identify.
The sources explained that if Bedol was allowed to talk freely to the Comelec task force, he could have”spilled the beans” and confirmed allegations of massive cheating in the May 2004 presidential elections and the May 2007 midterm polls.
In particular, the sources disclosed that Bedol was also a central figure in May 2004 elections in which President Arroyo won overwhelmingly over her rivals in Maguindanao amid charges of massive cheating and other poll irregularities.
The SC upheld Comelec’s power to conduct an investigation as an adjunct to its constitutional duty to enforce and administer all election laws based on explicit provisions of the 1987 Constitution.
It stressed: “To withhold from the Comelec the power to punish individuals who refuse to appear during a fact-finding investigation, despite a previous notice and order to attend, would render nugatory the Comelec’s investigative powers…which is part of its constitutional mandate to secure the conduct of honest and credible elections.”
According to the High Court, Bedol derailed the purpose of the task force created to investigate alleged massive cheating in Maguindanao by his obstinate refusal to appear during its scheduled hearings in Manila.
Undoubtedly, the Comelec could punish Bedol for such contumacious refusal to attend the task force hearings, it added.
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