MANILA, Philippines - Lintang Bedol, the former Maguindanao election supervisor accused of rigging the results of the 2007 presidential elections in favor of ex- president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, now faces criminal indictment for not filing his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).
In a six-page resolution, the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao approved the filing of graft charges against Bedol.
Investigation showed that Bedol has not filed his SALN for five years since 2002.
Bedol justified his non-filing of SALNs by claiming that all election documents and his personal files including his 2005 and 2006 SALNs were stolen when his office at the Capitol Sharif Aguak, Maguindanao was ransacked in May 2007.
“Such claim even strengthened his indictment as why would respondent simply store the SALNs among his personal documents and not file them with the Office of the Ombudsman or Comelec (Commission on Elections) Manila,” the resolution read.
Bedol also claimed that he did not file his SALN in 2007, 2008, and 2009 as he went into hiding due to threats made on his life to prevent him from reporting to the media the anomalies during the elections in 2007.
However, investigation showed that Bedol was no longer a public official in 2007 as he has been absent without official leave since 2007 and resurfaced only in 2011.