Palace has yet to submit Melo appointment papers

MANILA, Philippines – What is Malacañang waiting for?

Some members of the Commission on Appointments (CA) are asking this question since the appointment of retired Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo as chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has not been submitted by President Arroyo to the CA.

A CA member told The STAR over the weekend that as of March 14, when Congress started its five-week Lenten break, the CA had not received Melo’s appointment papers.

“That was more than two months since Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita confirmed in December the President’s decision to name the retired justice as the successor of Chairman Benjamin Abalos,” the source said.

The source said Malacañang has only sent to the CA the appointment papers of retired Regional Trial Court Judge Moslemen Macarambon, whom Mrs. Arroyo has named Comelec commissioner.

Mrs. Arroyo is set to issue today an ad interim appointment to Melo and eight other Comelec and Cabinet officials to allow them to perform their duties after the CA failed to confirm them, Malacañang said yesterday.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the move would allow Melo to immediately discharge his duties since Congress is on a Lenten break.

Mrs. Arroyo will re-issue a nomination on Melo to the CA when Congress resumes session on April 28, he added.

Also given ad interim appointments were Macarambon, Health Secretary Francisco Duque, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, Environment Secretary Lito Atienza and Interior and Local Governments Secretary Ronaldo Puno, Ermita said.

It was The STAR that broke the story on Melo’s appointment last December while the President was on a trip to Switzerland to address the World Economic Forum.

She revealed her decision to STAR columnist Babe Romualdez.

Commissioner Romeo Brawner has been acting Comelec chairman since Abalos quit more than three months ago in the wake of the scandal surrounding the $329-million national broadband network (NBN) contract with Chinese firm ZTE Corp.

Melo’s appointment drew criticism as soon as Ermita confirmed it.

Critics claimed that the retired justice would be a “clone” of the man he would succeed since he served as Abalos’ lawyer when Abalos testified in the Senate investigation into the NBN-ZTE deal.

Melo was seen on national television seated behind Abalos and giving him counsel.

Melo has admitted that he was one of Abalos’ lawyers in that hearing.

Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas, a CA member, clarified that the CA did not “disregard” Melo’s appointment but did not take it up before the Lenten break because his appointment papers “were not complete.”

“In fairness to the CA, we never had the chance to begin consideration of Justice Melo’s prior appointment simply because the nominee’s submissions were not complete,” he said.

On the last session day before the Holy Week break, CA members were still not aware whether all of Justice Melo’s papers had been submitted.

“This is just to clarify any misperceptions that we totally disregarded Justice Melo’s nomination. We did not. There was no conscious inaction on the part of the CA, as implied by published reports,” Gullas clarified.

Gullas said CA members were not aware if there had been any formal complaints regarding Melo’s appointment, and whether Melo has had the chance to submit his rejoinder.

“As in other nominations, the CA has to gather all these papers so that when we begin formal confirmation proceedings, nothing will be left out and everything will be in order,” he said.

Melo, 75, is “a man of exceptional probity,” according to Gullas.

Ermita earlier said Mrs. Arroyo intends to re-nominate Melo.

Last week, Brawner, Sarmiento and Ferrer held an executive session but failed to decide on anything. Macarambon attended the session, but he was just a spectator.

Since the CA has not confirmed him, he was still waiting for Malacañang to issue a new appointment.

Meanwhile, it was learned that the Comelec is still counting votes cast in the May 2007 elections for partylist group Ang Laban ng Indiginong Filipino (ALIF).

Several lawmakers have urged Brawner, Sarmiento and Ferrer to immediately stop the count.

“Nearly nine months after the elections and they are still counting?” asked a lawmaker.

“This is the longest election count in the world. And because of that, whatever its result, it is now suspect.”

Representatives of partylist organizations that have obtained the required number of votes have long been proclaimed, the lawmaker said.

A partylist group needs about 320,000 votes to get a seat in the House of Representatives.

As of the latest tally, ALIF was credited with more than 200,000 votes.

However, ALIF wanted the Comelec to count about 90,000 contested votes from Mindanao, its bailiwick, where there were complaints of widespread vote rigging in last year’s elections.

Acmad Tomawis, a Muslim, represented ALIF in the last Congress. – With Paolo Romero