Former Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol, wearing a bulletproof vest, surfaced yesterday after four years in hiding to begin serving a six-month jail term for direct contempt, and to face the certainty of further grilling for his role in alleged massive poll fraud in 2004 and 2007.
Amid media frenzy, Bedol arrived at the Comelec main office in Intramuros at around 9:25 a.m. accompanied by his lawyer Roberto Ultado and security escorts from the Department of the Interior and Local Government. He surrendered to the DILG last Friday.
“Attorney Bedol has been turned over to us. So officially, Attorney Bedol is now in the custody of the commission,” Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes said. “Today, the service of his sentence starts.”
Bedol was brought to Brillantes’ office and presented to the media shortly after. He refused to answer questions, and merely waved to reporters, saying, “Hello. Kumusta kayo lahat (How is everybody)?”
Brillantes said the Comelec was already in possession of an affidavit executed earlier by Bedol. The poll body is examining the affidavit, Brillantes said.
Bedol’s lawyer said his client “voluntarily surrendered to the DILG last Friday upon securing a copy of the ‘alias’ warrant of arrest” issued by the Comelec.
Ultado said the former Maguindanao election official stayed at the DILG during the weekend. He said Bedol was turned over the to the Comelec only yesterday for “security reasons.”
The Comelec decided to send Bedol to Camp Crame in Quezon City where he will serve his jail term.
“The final decision of the commission en banc turned out to be a unanimous vote except for commissioner (Rene) Sarmiento, who is abroad. It (detention) will be in the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame,” Brillantes told reporters.
The Comelec will send its own security personnel to guard Bedol round-the-clock “just to actually show the fact that he is under custody of the Comelec” even if he is in Camp Crame.
Superintendent Cesar Magsino, head of the Custodial Center at the PNP headquarters in Quezon City, said Bedol is locked up in a three- meter by three-meter room with a wooden bed. He arrived at the camp around noon.
The poll body had considered detaining Bedol at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City but had to eventually settle for Camp Crame to prevent his possible contact with members of the Ampatuan family, principal suspects in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre.
“We don’t want them to be there together. We just want to make sure. They might be in contact there. The media should know that in statements they gave, there appears to be some communication (between them),” he added.
Televised revelations of poll fraud by Bedol and former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan came only days apart from each other, sparking accusations by the opposition that their coming out was part of the Aquino administration’s grand scheme to pin down Arroyo for poll fraud.
DILG’s help
Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said Bedol called the DILG to volunteer information regarding poll anomalies in 2007 as well as seek protection.
“Bedol said he will make an affidavit, can you accommodate me there?” Robredo said, quoting Bedol as having asked a DILG personnel over the phone.
“He claimed he is interested in settling his problem with the Comelec or else he will always be on the run,” Robredo told a press briefing.
He said the DILG took custody of Bedol last Friday, and informed Brillantes of the development.
The DILG chief said two other individuals have expressed intention to corroborate Bedol’s statement. He said the two are already in Metro Manila.
Robredo stressed that he never met or spoke with Bedol when the latter was in the DILG to prevent insinuations of conspiracy.
“We will never be a part of any script. He volunteered and I think insinuation that there’s a script is misplaced,” said Robredo.
Robredo said Bedol’s affidavit was a reiteration of his statement that he was under instructions to make sure that three then opposition senatorial candidates – Aquino, Panfilo Lacson, and Alan Peter Cayetano – did not get votes in Maguindanao.
However, the election materials were lost while being transported, according to Bedol.
In the alleged manipulated results, Luis ‘Chavit’ Singson topped the race followed by now Sen. Miguel Zubiri.
Bedol claimed former Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos, commissioners Rene Sarmiento and Nicodemo Ferrer authenticated fake election materials.
Separate testimonies
At Malacañang, spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Bedol’s testimony should be taken separately from that of Ampatuan’s.
Lacierda also stressed that Bedol’s decision to surface was not a quid pro quo arrangement with Ampatuan, who is facing a number of charges, including conspiracy in the Maguindanao massacre case.
The camp of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was claiming that Ampatuan offered Bedol and himself as witnesses in the electoral fraud so the former governor could get out of jail.
Bedol is not an accused in the Maguindanao massacre case and there are speculations that it was Ampatuan who hid him at the time Congress and authorities were investigating electoral fraud in 2004 and 2007.
“First of all, Zaldy Ampatuan is a separate issue. We’ve already mentioned our position there. And I think, it’s not even something that we can think about. We are not negotiating that. Zaldy Ampatuan’s freedom? No. I don’t think that possible, even probable. That can’t happen,” Lacierda said.
“In fact, we are waiting for him (Bedol), allegedly he executed an affidavit. We have not seen the affidavit. We don’t know what he’s going to say before the public,” Lacierda added.
Lacierda said their expectations were based on what had been stated by Bedol in his statements before the media.
“We expect him to, of course, reveal these details. But, we just have to wait for them to substantiate the claims that he made. And according to (Justice) Secretary Leila de Lima, she’s going to assess and evaluate the testimony of Mr. Bedol,” Lacierda said.
Lacierda said the possible charges that could be filed against those possibly involved in cheating in the 2004 and 2007 elections would depend on De Lima’s assessment of Bedol’s claims.
Lacierda pointed out the important thing was to know the truth about the 2004 and 2007 elections and Bedol could be listened to as he had been claiming knowledge of what exactly happened.
He said it would be up to the family of the late actor and presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. to determine their legal remedies in case electoral fraud in 2004 was proven.
“I understand the family of the late FPJ wants the electoral officials or those involved to be punished. I don’t know if that is still possible, I would leave that to the legal minds, election lawyers and experts to venture an opinion on that,” Lacierda said.
Lacierda also denied that President Aquino had secretly met with Ampatuan in prison. “Why should there be a need to meet with Zaldy Ampatuan?”
Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) chair Henrietta de Villa, for her part, said Bedol should give his account of poll irregularities in a sworn affidavit and supported with evidence. She also said the former Maguindanao poll official should still be made to face charges for his role in election fraud in 2007.
“It would be good that Comelec would pursue the charges filed against him and he should issue a sworn statement and not just words. He should state what he knows and identify the others (who allegedly took part in the poll cheating),” De Villa said.
“We all know that there was really no true election that took place in this province,” he said.
De Villa also said that while she agrees with Comelec’s pronouncements that it can no longer undo the proclamation of Arroyo, there’s still a need to unearth the truth.
“But the thing is (we should) get to the bottom of it, what happened in 2004. Even if they could no longer undo, if there was a wrong proclamation, we would still have to find out who perpetuated this,” she said.
Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, who had served as legal counsel for Arroyo and even for some members of the Ampatuan family, said there appeared to be no evidence of massive poll cheating in 2004 because no cases had been filed.
“When Namfrel (National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections) says there was cheating, were they able to file cases? What cases were filed and were there resolutions? We cannot just say that there was cheating, if there were evidence then there should have been appropriate action of the concerned agencies,” Macalintal said.
“I am inhibiting myself from making a statement… I just hope that Comelec and the concerned individuals would move forward,” he said.
But he said the prescribed time for filing of cases against Mrs. Arroyo in connection with the 2004 elections has already lapsed. He said a case should have been filed five years after the alleged cases of poll fraud. Such rule, however, does not apply to the 2007 elections since under the Election Sabotage Law, the prescribed time has been extended to 20 years.
“What is important here is if they have documents in their possession and not just stories. Because if we only have stories, we know that these things happened and there were already investigations, but the outcome was still not that clear,” Namfrel secretary-general Eric Alvia said on Bedol’s and Ampatuan’s revelations.
“There were evidence presented but these were not pursued. Let us not even look at what motivated the two (Bedol and Zaldy Ampatuan) to come out, what is important is that they present the documents to prove what they are saying,” Alvia said.
“There was an election but we cannot call it a fair and clean election,” he said.
(source: Phil Star)
