BEDAL V.

COMELEC

The Supreme Court today dismissed the petition of Lintang Bedol, the former Chair of the Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBOC) for the province of Maguindanao, assailing the six-month jail term and PhP1,000 fine imposed on him for contempt by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) in connection with its investigation of the allegations of fraud and irregularities in the conduct of the May 14, 2007 elections in Maguindanao. In an 18-page decision penned by Justice Teresita J. Leonardo-De Castro, the Court also denied Bedols prayer for a temporary restraining order and/or a writ of preliminary injunction. Upholding the poll bodys jurisdiction to cite Bedol in contempt, the Court explained that the COMELEC possess the power to conduct investigations as an adjunct to its constitutional duty to enforce and administer all election laws. It said that the powers and functions of the COMELEC may be classified into administrative, quasi-legislative, and quasi-judicial. The quasi-judicial or administrative adjudicatory power is the power to hear and determine questions of fact to which the legislative policy is to apply, and to decide in accordance with the standards laid down by the law itself in enforcing and administering the same law. The Court pointed out that the COMELEC was exercising its quasi-judicial power in pursuit of the truth behind allegations of massive fraud during the elections in Maguindanao. It said that the creation of Task Force Maguindano was impelled by the alleged election fraud and irregularities. The Court noted that the COMELECs fact-finding investigation was derailed by Bedols obstinate refusal to appear during the scheduled hearings and to answer questions regarding the various election documents which, Bedol claimed, had been stolen while they were in his possession and custody. Undoubtedly, the COMELEC could punish [Bedol] for such contumacious refusal to attend the Task Force hearings, the Court said. The Court also held that the COMELEC properly assumed jurisdiction over the indirect contempt proceedings initiated against Bedol by its Task Force Maguindanao. It stressed that the language of the Omnibus Election Code and the COMELEC Rules of Procedure was broad enough to allow the initiation of indirect contempt proceedings by the COMELEC motu proprio. The Court brushed aside Bedols contention that the COMELEC has pre-judged his case. It stressed that the COMELEC gave Bedol several opportunities to explain his side and to present evidence to defend himself. All of Bedols belatedly filed pleadings were admitted and taken into consideration before the poll body issued the assailed resolutions, it added. The Court said that the poll body complied with sec. 4, Rule 71 of the Rules of Court and with the requirements set by Rule 29 of the COMELEC Rules of Procedure, when it had issued the Contempt Charge and Show Cause Order against Bedol directing him to appear before it and explain why he should not be held in contempt.

The Court noted that Bedol (1) repeatedly failed to attend, despite scheduled canvassing of the Provincial Certificates of Canvass, the hearing of the Task Force and refused to submit his explanation for such absences; (2) unlawfully assumed custody of accountable election documents, which were lost while in his possession, and consequently failed to deliver the same; (3) publicly displayed disrespect for the authority of the COMELEC through the media by flaunting an armory of long firearms and sidearms in public; and (4) posing for the front page of a national broadsheet, with a shiny pistol tucked in a holster, all in violations of the laws and rules. It found that Bedols evasiveness and refusal to present his evidence as well as his reliance on technicalities to justify such refusal in the face of the allegations of fraud or anomalies and newspaper publication mention to the Contempt Charge and Show Cause Order amounted to an implied admission of the charges leveled against him. All told,

petitioner brought this predicament upon himself when he opted to dispense with the presentation of his evidence during the scheduled hearings and to explain his non-appearance at the hearings of Task Force Maguindanao and the loss of the certificates of canvass and other election documents, the Court said. Bedols petition was spawned by the COMELECs August 7, 2007 resolution holding him guilty of contempt and meting out to him the penalty of six months imprisonment and a PhP1,000 fine, and its August 31, 2007 resolution denying Bedols motion for reconsideration. During the May 2007 polls, Bedol served as concurrent Chair of the Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBOC) for the province of Maguindanao and Provincial Elections Supervisor for the Province of Shariff Kabunsuan, a neighboring province of Maguindanao. While it was Bedols ministerial duty to canvass the Certificates of Canvass from 22 city and municipalities, he failed to attend the canvassing of the Provincial Certificates of Canvass of Maguindanao scheduled by the COMELEC. Thus, the COMELEC created Task Force Maguindanao, a fact-finding investigation committee, tasked to look into the matter. Bedol subsequently explained that the election paraphernalia were stolen sometime on May 29, 2007 but no written report was filed with the COMELEC. On June 26, 2007, Bedol came out to the media in an exclusive interview with Inquirer and GMA-7, with guns at his side. (GR No. 179830, Bedol v. Comelec, December 3, 2009)