Election Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer totally missed the point when he told reporters last week that the Commission on Elections en banc is considering to file electoral sabotage charges against at least two media executives for “spreading false news, false comment that diminish the credibility of Comelec.” Ferrer was alluding to media reports of massive fraud in last May’s senatorial and local elections. But who is really straining the Comelec’s credibility? Did the media destroy the Comelec’s credibility by reporting the election anomalies as they took place – an act that in the first place is part of their duty to expose? It is in fact the Comelec that is straining its own credibility, not least by failing (or rather, refusing) to punish the perpetrators of poll fraud within its ranks – particularly the now-infamous Lintang Bedol, who was penalized for the flimsy charge of contempt while being widely believed to be the main operator of electoral cheating in Maguindanao province.

BY FLON FAURILLO
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 27, August 12-18, 2007

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