Melo's successor should push for automated polls in 2013

MANILA, Philippines - The successor of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose Melo, who is resigning in January, should push for the automation of national elections in 2013 and thereafter, Cagayan Rep. Jack Enrile said yesterday.

“I hope it would be the norm for the administration to select people with experience and determination to handle vital government posts, including the Comelec. Chairman Melo already took the first step in moving our election system forward. It would be in our best interest as a nation if his successor would further push for the same – or doubly harder,” he said.

Melo presided over the country’s first automated national elections last May 10. Despite some criticisms, the conduct of the elections was largely successful.

Enrile said that whoever succeeds Melo should pursue the reforms that he had started.

Malacañang has launched a search for replacements of Melo and two other members of the poll body who are ending their terms early next year.

Before the May 10 polls, the Comelec chairman had announced that he would be glad to retire again from government service if the automation of elections succeeded.

After his first retirement as a Supreme Court justice, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo named him head of a commission that looked into political and extra-judicial killings.

Enrile said Melo’s shoes would be hard to fill.

“I admire Chairman Melo’s dedication in getting the job done. I take my hat off for all his achievements. We need a Melo in government service who knows what he can do and does it best,” he said.

He added that Melo’s “untainted public service, transparency and decency at work has raised the level of Comelec’s credibility and competency to launch the first automated elections in May.”

Comelec: No problem

Meanwhile, the Comelec assured the public that the retirement of three commissioners early next year won’t cripple the poll body and adversely affect preparations for the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

By February, three seats will be left vacant with the retirement of Commissioners Nicodemo Ferrer, Gregorio Larrazabal and Chairman Melo.

Commissioners Ferrer and Lucenito Tagle said the poll body has managed in the past to prepare for elections despite the vacancies in the Commission.

“I would say we can prepare for the August 2011 ARMM elections because the senior staff are there to back up the remaining members of the Commission en banc,” Ferrer explained.

Tagle echoed the same belief, noting that the poll body has started this early already the necessary preparations for the next electoral exercise in ARMM.

He said the commission wanted to complete a most of the preparations for the ARMM polls while they still have a majority.

In fact, Tagle said this November the commission already came out with the necessary guidelines and calendar of activities for the ARMM elections.             – With Mayen Jaymalin