Palace: No deal with Zaldy, Bedol

MANILA, Philippines -  Malacañang denied yesterday that President Aquino met with former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan and had struck a deal with him and former Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol.

Reports had it that Aquino secretly visited Ampatuan at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig without informing even the Philippine National Police (PNP), to get more information about the alleged cheating during the 2004 and 2007 elections and determine whether this was true.

“The President did not meet with Zaldy Ampatuan,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a press briefing at the Palace.

Lacierda also said there was no deal between the Palace and Ampatuan and Bedol, as claimed by former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s lawyer, Raul Lambino.

“I think they are trying to stain this administration and to make it appear that we are coddling the Ampatuans and that is something that we will never do. We have made that clear, especially to the families of the Maguindanao massacre victims,” he said.

Lacierda noted it was not possible for Ampatuan to get a plea bargaining agreement or any deal by testifying on the electoral fraud just to save himself from getting convicted of conspiracy in the Maguindanao massacre case.

“Look, based on the defense that he presented, I don’t think there is plea bargain there. So, how can you plea bargain when he’s admitting that he has no participation in the crime? When you say plea bargain, he is going to admit to the crime. So since he is admitting that he had never participated in the crime, how do you expect a plea bargain from that, legally speaking?” he said.

Meanwhile, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes refused to comment on reports that Bedol and Ampatuan are out to pin down Arroyo.

“We have nothing to say if there is a connection with GMA or with the government. The Comelec is supposed to be independent and these are political in nature,” said Brillantes in a press briefing.

He said the Comelec’s primary interest “is for Bedol to serve his sentence and as to what he will say, it is totally up to him.”

Bedol’s lawyer Roberto Ultado Jr. refused to comment on the matter, but said that his only concern is for his client to serve the final and executory judgment of the Comelec citing him in contempt.

“We are submitting him to the jurisdiction of the Comelec,” Ultado said. – Sheila Crisostomo