INSTEAD of a reward, PO3 Norville Micarandayo was ordered transferred to another police precinct following his arrest of two men suspected of planning to ambush a barangay chairman in Valencia City, Bukidnon province late last week.
Political considerations and motives aside, one wonders why the police officer was being transferred, unless of course he did manage to step on some sensitive toes and it was deemed best for him to be transferred in order to protect his life.
At least an explanation should be given by the PNP higher-ups to the police officer who did manage to help arrest two suspects who admitted to being on the scene of the crime, only to be transferred. At any rate, he deserves to be commended not transferred.
And the attempted ambush on barangay chairman Alexander Bac-Qan should be investigated and the guilty parties punished regardless of whether or not some big shots are involved--and in all likelihood, those big shots happen to be hanging around Valencia City itself.
Bedol case
Lost in the midst of the vote-buying and altercations that occurred in polling precincts around the country is this little report that controversial provincial Commission on Elections (Comelec) supervisor Lintang Bedol is reported missing.
The Comelec minus former chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. swiftly issued an arrest order on Bedol but the latter was nowhere to be found in Mindanao, prompting the agency to request an immigration ban on his travel.
Still like his predecessor and equally controversial colleague ex-Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, Bedol remains hard to get and missing which then led to suspicions by Comelec hierarchy that he was being hidden by their people at the ARMM region.
This was strongly denied by Comelec officials in ARMM, who chided that there was no reason for them to hide Bedol amid allegations that he helped rig the May 14 12-0 shutout of senatorial candidates in Maguindanao province.
With a new Comelec chairman in tow and the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections over, the election agency should double its efforts in arresting Bedol and punishing him for contempt and defiance while pursuing an investigation into his alleged role of rigging election results in Maguindanao.
At the very least, the Comelec should put the fear of God into these kind of officials who think they can get away with fooling the people and earning money at the same time.
