Lintang Bedol now under Comelec custody, says chairman

MANILA, Philippines – Former Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol is now officially under the custody of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) after he appeared in the office at around 9 a.m., chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said Tuesday in a press conference aired lived over television and radio, including 990AM.

Bedol, who was waving at the media when he entered the Comelec office, said he wasn’t ready to answer questions yet.

Bedol’s lawyer, Roberto Ultado Jr. said that Bedol’s affidavit has to be reviewed by the Comelec en banc.

Brillates said that they would officially convene to discuss where Bedol would be detained and could decide in an hour. “It will probably be determined today [Tuesday].”

Ultado said that Bedol was detained under the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for one week before he was turned over to the Comelec. He also said that DILG gave security to Bedol.

Bedol disappeared after he was summoned by the Comelec to testify on alleged irregularities in the 2007 senatorial elections. He was subsequently cited for contempt and sentenced in absentia to six months imprisonment.

Bedol and former Governor Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao last week accused then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of engineering vote-shaving and vote-padding operations in the 2004 presidential and 2007 senatorial elections.