Brawner dies of heart attack

MANILA, Philippines – Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Romeo Brawner passed away yesterday morning at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City after a massive cardiac arrest.

He was 72.

Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr., army spokesman, said his father succumbed to a major attack at 9:30 a.m. yesterday after being confined in hospital since Monday.

Brawner had a massive coronary failure at 6 a.m. yesterday but doctors were able to revive him.

The army official said his father started feeling chest pains after he returned from Sri Lanka as part of the government contingent that observed the automated elections there.

“He was confined since Monday because the doctors found something alarming,” he said.

The Comelec official is survived by his wife Lenora Fe, 70 and his five children.

Brawner’s son said his father devoted much of life to public service, since he served as prosecutor.

He was appointed to the Comelec by President Arroyo in 2005, and served as the commission’s acting chairman, being the most senior commissioner after the retirement of Commissioner Resurreccion Borra in February.

Prior to his appointment to the Comelec, Brawner served as presiding justice of the Court of Appeals.

Brawner, a graduate of the University of Philippines College of Law, entered the Philippine judiciary in 1975 as a trial court judge in Baguio City.

President Arroyo expressed sadness over the death of Brawner even as Malacañang officials indicated that his work in the coming elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will continue unhampered.

“An appropriate replacement would be named as soon as possible,” Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said, adding that the Palace search committee is still reviewing the list of possible successors.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruben Reyes, Brawner’s successor as CA presiding justice, said in a phone interview that he was surprised at his predecessor’s death, because the late commissioner was a health conscious man.

Reyes also said Brawner had endeared himself among CA employees because he rubbed elbows with the rank and file.

“No words can describe him as a boss and as an official of the Comelec. He was incomparable,” Atty. Say Carasig, Brawner’s chief of staff, told The STAR.

“Commissioner Brawner is a big loss to the Comelec. But while we in the Comelec mourn the Commissioner’s untimely demise, we believe the most fitting tribute we could give him is to ensure that the coming ARMM elections will be peaceful and credible,” Comelec chairman Jose Melo said.

Brawner is also well-respected among civil society groups advocating change in the election system.

Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Consortium on Electoral Reform, said Brawner had fathered a 10-point election reform program that had been officially adopted by the Comelec.

The target is to implement Brawner’s proposals in time for the 2010 presidential polls.

Casiple said that with Brawner’s death, there are now three vacant posts for commissioners at the Comelec. At present, the Comelec hierarchy is composed of a chairman and three commissioners, instead of six.

Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting national chairperson Henrietta de Villa said they are calling on President Arroyo to resolve this impasse at the Comelec by appointing posthaste three commissioners who are imbued with the values Commissioner Brawner exemplified – integrity, competence and independence.”

James Arthur Jimenez, a director at the Comelec Education and Information Department, said a wake for Brawner was scheduled last night at the Comelec main office in Intramuros, Manila and a mass and necrological service for him will be held at 9 a.m. today in the same venue. – With Paolo Romero, Evelyn Macairan