Press Release
June 13, 2007

OPPOSITION SAYS BEDOL MERELY INVENTED
TALE THAT POLL DOCUMENTS WERE STOLEN

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Nene Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) said the Genuine Opposition is not buying the claim of Maguindanao provincial election supervisor Lintang Bedol that he could not produce the municipal certificates of canvass (COCs), statements of votes (SOVs) and other documents on the results of the May 14 polls in the province because they were stolen from his office.

Pimentel suspected that Bedol merely concocted the tale that the COCs from the 24 towns of Maguindanao were missing because he is afraid that the presentation of these documents before the National Board of Canvassers (NBCs) would show that they had been falsified or manufactured to reflect a 12-0 victory for Team Unity senatorial candidates.

I am both amused and outraged by Bedols explanation that the election documents were not only missing but had also been stolen. I believe he just invented his explanation, he said.

The minority leader asked why it is only now that Bedol has reported that the municipal COCs to accompany the provincial COC went missing. He said Bedol mysteriously disappeared for several days and ignored the summons of the NBCs to appear before it and before the special board of canvassers created to conduct a new tabulation for the whole province.

Pimentel said the fact that elections were held in Maguindanao is proven by the proclamation of the winning candidates of governor, vice governor and members of the provincial board and congressmen of Maguindanao and for mayors, vice-mayors and councilors in various municipalities.

Pimentel said the only legal and logical option for election authorities is to nullify and set aside the fraudulent election results in Maguindanao and to proceed with the proclamation of the last two winning senatorial candidates.

And if there are parties or candidates who wish to protest, then they can formally file their protest with the Senate Electoral Tribunal, he said.

Pimentel said if a special election is held in Maguindanao, the estimated cost of such political exercise is from P13 to P15 million.

Noting the vague stand of Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos on the issue, he urged the other Comelec commissioners to resolve once and for all even if this means overruling their chairman.

Chairman Abalos may be the head of Comelec but he is not the entire Commission, he said.

News Latest News Feed