MANILA, Philippines - “Nothing new.”
This was how Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes yesterday described the affidavit executed by dismissed Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol in connection with the 2007 polls.
“I’m not satisfied. What’s written in the affidavit are practically the same statements he made to the media before he came out,” Brillantes said at a press briefing.
Bedol is now detained at Camp Crame in Quezon City, serving a six-month jail term slapped against him by the Comelec for failing to produce election documents from Maguindanao in his custody in 2007.
Bedol had supplemented the affidavits with those of three other witnesses who corroborated his allegation that there was electoral fraud in Maguindanao.
The three witnesses are Saliao Amba, who claimed to be acting election officer of Shariff Saydona in Mustapha, Maguindanao; Maysaysay Mohamad, who claimed to be the chairman of the Municipal Board of Canvassers of Barongis, Maguindanao; and Salonga Edzela, a government employee appointed as computer voter’s list technician in Bedol’s office.
In his affidavit, Bedol noted that former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. told him that “the instruction from the president is to ensure that then senatorial candidates Allan Peter Cayetano, Panfilo Lacson and now President Aquino get zero votes.”
“He instructed me to just let Eng. Nuri Unas, then provincial administrator of Maguindanao and close confidant of Ampatuan Sr., do his job. As I could not say ‘no’ to the most powerful man in Maguindanao, I answered that I will see what I can do,” he added.
Bedol claimed he observed that election officers “would frequently go to Eng. Nuri Unas and receive instruction from him.”
“When the provincial board of canvassers, of which I was the chairman, canvassed the votes, our official tally resulted in Chavit Singson garnering the highest number of votes among senatorial candidates,” he said.
He reiterated that fake ballots and election returns that were “certified as authentic” by retired Comelec commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer were used in Maguindanao.
Brillantes said he sent Comelec lawyers to Camp Crame to check on Bedol and ask if he could execute a supplemental affidavit.
“We want to know if he can be a credible witness,” he added.
The poll chief said Bedol’s affidavit was backed by the affidavits of the three witnesses who also claimed that the election results in Maguindanao had been manipulated.
“They support Bedol’s allegations in his affidavit insofar as the claim that there were fake entries made in the election returns on the missing documents and that the election returns were pre-filled up,” he added.
But unlike Bedol, the three witnesses did not mention about Arroyo.
Brillantes said the Comelec is trying to secure the sworn statement of former ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan who revealed poll cheating in Maguindanao ahead of Bedol.
He added that Ampatuan’s statement could strengthen Bedol’s testimony, especially since he did not actually hear Arroyo giving instruction to rig the elections.
But Ferrer said only those with “hidden agenda” would believe Bedol’s “scripted telenovela story.”
In a text message to The STAR, Ferrer said he is leaving the fate of Bedol to the present officials of the Comelec.
He said at the moment, he does not want to waste his time entertaining Bedol’s allegations.
Bedol earlier claimed that former Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos and Ferrer were among the three Comelec officials who authenticated the alleged fake COCs in Maguindanao.
But both denied orchestrating the alleged cheating in the 2007 elections.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the filing of graft charges against Bedol for his alleged involvement in election irregularities.
Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao Humphrey Monteroso, who approved the indictment last July 14, said the case would be lodged before the Cotabato City regional trial court since the respondent is a low-ranking official whose former position is not covered by the Sandiganbayan.
Graft probers who handled the investigation of the complaint filed against him by Comelec Law Department chief Ferdinand Rafanan in January 2009 recommended bail in the amount of P30,000.
Rafanan accused him of “unlawfully and illegally ordering the submission to him of all copies of the municipal certificates of canvass , election returns, statement of votes and summary statement of votes generated by all precincts in the municipality of Maguindanao.
The election documents he allegedly collected contained the results for the local and national positions during the May 14, 2007 elections.
The complaint said the documents later disappeared and could no longer be located by Comelec officials despite stringent measures adopted for their safekeeping.
Because of what Bedol allegedly did, votes for the province of Maguindanao were not transmitted to the Comelec, thereby causing undue injury to the government as the canvassing of votes for the senatorial and party-list were unnecessarily delayed.
Worse, the complaint said the loss of the documents tainted the image and credibility of the poll body as a constitutional and independent institution.
In a 12-page resolution, the Office of the Ombudsman found probable cause to indict Bedol before the appropriate criminal court. - Sheila Crisostomo, Rodel Clapano, Michael Punongbayan