SC to hear Bedol plea vs Comelec decision

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court has given controversial Maguindanao elections supervisor Lintang Bedol 30 days to submit his memorandum in relation to his petition seeking to nullify a Commission on Elections (Comelec) ruling that found him guilty of indirect contempt. The high court has also given Comelec 30 days to submit its own memorandum so that it may finally rule on Bedol’s petition. Comelec found Bedol guilty of indirect contempt after he defied summonses to appear in investigations on his province’s voting in the May 2007 midterm elections. He was sentenced to six-months imprisonment and ordered to fine P1,000 to the poll body. In a two-page resolution, the Court en banc said the parties’ memoranda should be “a clear and concise statement of the nature of the action, a summary of the proceedings, the challenged decision, resolution or order of the Comelec, the nature of the judgment and other matters necessary to an understanding of the nature of the controversy.” The SC however warned that it will no longer entertain any new issues that may be raised in the memorandum, while the issues already raised but were not included in the memorandum shall be deemed waived or abandoned. “Being a summation of the parties’ previous pleadings, the Court may consider the Memorandum alone in deciding or resolving this petition,” the SC ruled. Bedol was accused by the United Opposition of manipulating the provincial poll results in favor of Team Unity bets, particularly in allegedly shaving the votes cast for senatorial candidate Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III in favor of administration candidate Juan Miguel Zubiri to take the final Senate seat. - GMANews.TV