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Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Bedol pleads not guilty to indirect contempt raps
MANILA (1 p.m.)-- Maguindanao poll supervisor Lintang Bedol pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to the indirect contempt charges pending before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) over his alleged failure to appear before the poll body despite knowledge on scheduled hearings.
Bedol with a bandaged right eye was turned over to the poll body Tuesday morning by policemen from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) who arrested him Sunday night in Davao City.
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The poll body has given Bedol 10 days to answer the indirect contempt charges filed against him while he remains under police custody pending the Comelec’s decision on the request of his lawyer, Andrei Bon Tagum to place the poll supervisor under his care.
Tagum said his client will challenge the legality of the arrest ordered by Comelec since they have not received any complaint from the poll body that warrants Bedol’s arrest.
He also asked the Comelec en banc during Tuesday’s appearance of Bedol to provide them the complaint stating the poll supervisor’s alleged violations.
Bedol was also accused with infidelity in the custody of documents for his failure to turnover the municipal certificates of canvass to the Comelec Manila office, his statements to the media challenging the Comelec to sue him so he could face his accusers in court and flaunting in public his pistol and admitting maintaining an armory.
The Comelec law department issued Saturday the warrant for Bedol’s arrest after he failed to answer orders to produce poll documents which he claimed has disappeared in his office.
Meanwhile, Armm Police Regional Director Joel Goltiao in a television interview admitted that threats to Bedol’s life were real.
Goltiao believes that necessary police escorts should be given to Bedol after threats the poll official received were assessed to be credible.(Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Baguio. (July 3, 2007 issue)
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