Comelec may pursue criminal case vs Bedol after missing document found

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) may now pursue the criminal case against former Maguindanao election supervisor Atty. Lintang Bedol after finding the draft of the missing subpoena prepared by slain legal chief Alioden Dalaig.

“The document was discovered at the (office of the) Law Department. We’ll investigate if it was deliberate,” said Comelec commissioner Rene Sarmiento in an interview.

Bedol is facing criminal charges for his failure to account for the Maguindanao poll documents he had taken right after the May 14, 2007 elections and for his failure to attend the hearing and canvassing set by Task Force Maguindanao.

These documents are believed vital to the senatorial bids of now-Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri and lawyer Aquilino Pimentel III who fought for the 12th slot in last year’s elections.

Zubiri was declared winner in that contest, but recent developments in the Senate Electoral Tribunal has opened the possibility of Pimentel taking the contested slot.

The Comelec had earlier sentenced Bedol to six-year imprisonment for indirect contempt but it opted to delay the filing of the criminal charges to give more time to fortify the case.

According to Law Department director Ferdinand Rafanan, the draft was found when he ordered an inventory of all cases being handled by the department when he assumed the post last June 1.

Rafanan, however, refused to speculate whether or not Dalaig had intentionally kept the subpoena that has not been served on Bedol.

Dalaig and Bedol are known to be close friends. Their names were mentioned in the so-called Garci tape that almost toppled the Arroyo administration.

Dalaig was gunned down last November, leaving the Comelec clueless about the status of Bedol’s case. His replacement, Atty. Wynne Asdala, was also killed four months later.

A warrant of arrest has been issued against Bedol in connection with the indirect contempt charges but he remains scot-free.

“It’s just a draft and it has not been signed by Atty. Dalaig. The date was not even stated there.  Legally speaking, it does not exist,” he noted.

But Rafanan claimed that the subpoena is very important to the criminal case because it would set off the filing of the case. 

“Subpoena is issued for him to answer the criminal complaint. If you don’t issue a subpoena, how can you start filing the case? The indirect contempt is just incidental,” he added.