Malacañang set to appoint ad interim 7th Comelec commissioner

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is set to appoint ad interim Marawi City prosecutor Elias Yusoph as the last and seventh commissioner of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Ad interim appointment is done when Congress is on recess. This allows the appointee to assume office pending confirmation by the Commission on Appointments (CA).

Comelec chairman Jose Melo said yesterday the Palace would also re-appoint ad interim Commissioner Leonardo Leonida, who had been bypassed by the CA.

“Commissioner Leonida and Commissioner Yusoph will be receiving their ad interim appointment over the weekend, I was informed by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita. The commission will now be complete,” he said in an interview.

Early last month, Malacanang announced the appointment of Yusoph as Comelec commissioner but he failed to assume the post because Congress was in session.

Leonida, on the other hand, was named to the Comelec in November 2008 but was bypassed twice by the CA.

If he will not be given his ad interim appointment, his term of office would have ended yesterday when Congress took its recess.

Melo said that as a policy, Yusoph would not be assigned to handle the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao because he comes from the ARMM province of Marawi.

“But the commissioners here will just be happy to unload on him controversial cases,” Melo said in jest. – Sheila Crisostomo