New Comelec commissioner named; Macarambon out?

MANILA, Philippines – President Arroyo appointed Cordillera regional election official Armando Velasco as new commissioner of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced last night.

Ermita said the President has also reappointed Leonardo Leonida and Lucenito Tagle as Comelec commissioners after their appointments were bypassed by Congress when it went on recess last Oct. 9.

Velasco replaced Comelec commissioner and former Iligan City Judge Moslemen Macarambon whose appointment had been bypassed several times by the Commission on Appointments (CA), Ermita said.

Macarambon’s appointment in November 2007 was met with allegations that his patron was former election official Virgilio Garcillano, the key figure in the controversial “Hello, Garci” wiretap tapes scandal.

Ermita though did not elaborate on the reasons why Macarambon was not reappointed.

Sources, however, revealed Malacañang would transfer Macarambon to a key post at Amanah Bank.

“Now they (Comelec) have a quorum,” Ermita said, referring to complaints from the poll officials that they could not conduct business due to lack of quorum in the poll body.

The Comelec has yet to fill up another vacancy on the position vacated by the late commissioner Romeo Brawner, who died last June.

On the other hand, Leonida, a retired Malabon Regional Trial Court judge, will replace Florentino Tuason while Tagle, a retired justice of the Court of Appeals, succeeded Resurreccion Borra.

Before the appointments, only Chairman Jose Melo manned the seven-man Comelec with commissioners Rene Sarmiento and Nicodemo Ferrer.

The commissioners were not able to hold sessions over decisions on cases and administrative issues.

Melo earlier urged Malacañang to release the appointment of Tagle, Leonida and Macarambon before Congress resumes session on Monday, pointing out the poll body is still “crippled” by the lack of quorum.

As a rule, when the Congress is in session, any appointments by Malacañang will not take effect unless confirmed by the CA.

But when the appointment is done during recess, the appointee can start working pending the confirmation procedures.

Lessons from US polls

The Comelec closely watched the recent presidential polls in the United States for possible lessons it can learn and apply in the Philippines’ 2010 local and national elections.

Comelec Chairman Melo said that he primarily noticed that despite the modern electoral system in the US, there were still long queues of voters in poll precincts.

“Considering that we may have less poll automation machines, maybe we can cluster the precincts that have less voters,” he noted in an interview. The idea is to put up more machines in places where there are more voters.

In the US, voters can choose between automated and manual voting systems in choosing their candidates.

Melo noted that this system could not be adopted by the Philippines because it would be more complicated.

“So what we’ll do is to intensify our education campaign about the automation so that every voter would be able to use the machines effectively,” he added.

Comelec commissioner Sarmiento, who personally observed the conduct of US elections in Washington D.C., said there is a need to “mobilize the youth vote.”

“First-time voters must be urged to register and vote. (We should also) hold presidential debates,” he said in a text message to The STAR.

Sarmiento maintained that Comelec could follow the US in maximizing the use of Internet and e-mail for educational purposes.

He underscored the need to “urge people to vote, the media to help in voter’s education and candidates to focus on issues.”

“We should have candidates with good credentials, good platform, those with vision for change, those who can electrify or energize the people,” he added.