Bedol fails to post bail, to spend night at Comelec

(Updated 6:45 p.m.) Controversial Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol will have to spend the night at the Commission on Elections office in Intramuros, Manila after the commissioners on Tuesday failed to meet on his motion for bail. Commissioner Resurreccion Borra said the Comelec en banc would still have to meet on Wednesday "for consultation" on Bedol's motion to post bail. The Comelec en banc on Tuesday sentenced Bedol to six months in jail and slapped him with a P1,000 fine. It also set a bail of P15,000. "He would be under the custody of the (Comelec's) law department…with the proper security," Borra told reporters over the phone. Bedol's lawyer, Andrei Bon Tagum, said in a separate phone interview that they had yet to pay the set bail. "We cannot pay unless petition is granted," he said. Tagum filed Bedol's "urgent manifestation and motion for Bail" before the Clerk of the Commission at 1:10 pm of Tuesday, "without conceding and abandoning his position as to the lack of jurisdiction of this Honorable Commission over the present case." In the motion, Bedol vowed to be available should the Comelec require his personal appearance before the body. He added that his application for bai should not be construed as having waived or abandoned his legal position regarding the Comelec's alleged lack of jurisdiction over the contempt case. Not absolved in cheating Earlier in the day, Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer, head of the Comelec panel that investigated alleged irregularties in the Maguindanao elections said Bedol would likely spend the night at the agency's office in Manila City. "He will sleep with Atty (Alioden) Dalaig (chief of the Comelec Legal Department). That's the worst punishment," Ferrer said jokingly. Bedol was supposed to be taken to the Manila City Jail. Ferrer noted that the Comelec's verdict only concerns Bedol's alleged contemptuous attitude against the Comelec and has nothing to do with what happened with Maguindanao as they are still investigating it. "It (verdict) does not absolve him of the (cheating) allegations," he said. Despite official summonses, Bedol was absent from the June 14 hearing of Task Force Maguindanao as well as proceedings of the National Board of Canvassers on May 22 and 30. His absences drew the ire of the poll body, prompting it to slap him with indirect contempt charges. Aside from missing the proceedings, the Comelec noted that Bedol failed to immediately submit written notices about his failure to attend the said sessions. A GMA News report said the Comelec also criticized Bedol for skipping the provincial canvass and for taking into custody municipal certificates of canvass, which he claimed were stolen from his office on May 29. The report added that the commissioners ruled that Bedol disrespected the poll body before the media, even as they raised concerns about the latter's televised interview on GMA News wherein he flashed his pistol. Other violations Ferrer said they are trying to find out what really happened in the province and that Bedol is an important factor in their probe. "If it can be traced to him, why not? But we would not be falsely accusing him. We have to be fair also," he said. The commissioner said they are taking the cases against Bedol slowly because they have to "perfect" the complaint and they were undermanned. He also said the verdict they handed against Bedol cannot be considered as mere slap on the wrist as being detained for six months is not easy. Ferrer added that there were proposals from other commissioners, when they were still drafting the decision, that Bedol be sentenced to two months imprisonment. He said one commissioner reasoned out that even a day in jail is enough as it would mean humiliation. - GMANews.TV