DILG turns over ex-poll exec Lintang Bedol to Comelec

UPDATED 11:15 a.m. - Controversial former Maguindanao elections supervisor Lintang Bedol was turned over to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday morning. Escorted by police detail, Bedol arrived at the poll body's main headquarters in Intramuros, Manila at past 9:00 a.m. on Monday and was immediately brought before the Comelec en banc. A radio dzBB report said agents from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) brought Bedol, who was wearing a bullet-proof vest over a red shirt, to the Comelec office in Intramuros, Manila. The report said the vehicle that brought Bedol to the Comelec passed through the basement of the Palacio del Gobernador, the building housing the Comelec headquarters. Bedol was accused of manipulating the provincial poll results in the 2007 elections allegedly to favor candidates allied with former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, particularly Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, who has since denied involvement in any poll fraud. The Comelec found Bedol guilty of indirect contempt after he defied summonses to appear in investigations on his province's voting in the May 2007 midterm elections. In 2008, however, Bedol petitioned the Supreme Court to nullify a Comelec ruling that found him guilty of indirect contempt. The court gave the Comelec 30 days to submit its own memorandum so that it could finally rule on Bedol's petition. In the end, the court sentenced the poll official to six months imprisonment and fined him P1,000. Authorities, however, failed to locate him. Surrender In a press conference after taking custody of Bedol on Tuesday, Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes said that Bedol voluntarily surrendered himself to the DILG last Friday but that he could not be immediately turned over to the Comelec because of security reasons. "(The) warrant of arrest judgement (was) rendered by the Comelec (so) we the Comelec would be enttled to his custody that's why the turnover was made to us," he said. Bedol's lawyer Roberto Ultado Jr., who spoke during the press conference, refused to reveal details of the surrender and only said his client was "treated well." Bedol likewise refused to answer any questions and only told reporters: "Hello. Kamusta kayo lahat (Hello. How are you?)." Six-month sentence Brillantes said Bedol will start serving his sentence right away. "His service or sentence of six moths starts now," he said. The Comelec chief, however, noted that they have yet to determine where the controversial poll official should be detained. He said the Comelec en banc will decide within the day. "We really don't have any detention cell, titingnan namin san pinakasafe then we will make the decision (so we will have to determine where is the safest detention facility then we will make a decision)," he said. In the original warrant of arrest issued against Bedol on October 22, 2007, the Comelec law department ordered that Bedol be detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, where the Ampatuans and other suspects in the Maguindanao massacre are also detained. In a warrant of arrest issued last Friday, the Comelec said Bedol should be delivered to Camp Bagong Diwa or to any detention facility as directed by the Comelec. Election fraud Just recently, Bedol linked Arroyo, who is now a congresswoman representing the second district of Pampanga, to the supposed poll fraud in 2007. Brillantes had earlier said they plan to quiz Bedol over his pronouncements, including alleged poll fraud in 2004 and 2007 and see if he will put them in writing. But during Tuesday's press briefing, Brillantes said that their priority is the service of Bedol's sentence. "What he will say later is up to him," he said. He noted, however, that Bedol has already submitted an affidavit to the Comelec but that they have yet to read its contents. Ultado likewise refused to comment on what is contained in the affidavit. "Everything we will see from his statements we'll have to review these... these will all come later," said Brillantes. Closure on 'Garci' scandal A Church-based poll watchdog group, the Parish Pastoral Council on Responsible Voting (PPCRV) said it supports moves to give closure the "Hello Garci" scandal involving alleged fraud in the 2004 elections. However, the PPCRV said the cases "witness" Bedol, should not be overlooked. "Bedol should be charged and, once proven guilty, penalized. But (the Commission on Elections) and the government should not stop with Bedol," PPCRV chairperson Henrietta de Villa said in an article posted on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines news site. The "Hello Garci" scandal began in June 2005 when audio recordings of an alleged phone call conversation between Arroyo and then Election Commissioner Virgilio "Garci" Garcillano were released to the public. Arroyo and Garcillano were suspected to be the ones in the audio recording who were talking about the rigging of the 2004 national election results. De Villa said putting closure to such cases is a crucial step to having credible and peaceful elections. Earlier, suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Governor Zaldy Ampatuan and Bedol disclosed there was fraud in the 2004 and 2007 elections. The PPCRV noted Bedol now faces charges filed by the Commission on Elections, including indirect contempt, and violating the Omnibus Election Code, the Revised Penal Code and the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. Bedol also has a pending arrest warrant issued by the Comelec on Oct. 22, 2007. - VVP, GMA News