Comelec appointments not covered by ban – Palace

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang maintained yesterday that appointments of commissioners to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) are not covered by the appointments ban during the campaign period for the May 13 elections.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte told media that the replacements for retired Comelec commissioners Rene Sarmiento and Armando Velasco could be made even during the campaign period.

The Office of the President (OP) already made manifestations before the office of Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr., saying that while the March 29 deadline for appointments may have lapsed, this does not cover appointments to the poll body.

“The OP through the Office of the Executive Secretary wrote to the Comelec and stated our position that the appointments to the two Comelec posts are not covered by the ban,” she said.

Nonetheless, she said that they have been given “advance information” that the Comelec is sustaining their position, but refused to give any timetable on when the appointments will be made.

“We’ve already been told, we were given advance information, that the Comelec does concur with the position of the OP that it is not covered by the March 29 appointments ban due to the urgency brought upon by the upcoming elections in May,” Valte said.

She added: “How soon can we expect the appointments? I don’t want to give a timetable but rest assured that we are very cognizant of the urgency of the appointments.”

Two weeks ago, President Aquino said he would be more careful this time in choosing the next Comelec commissioners, following the embarrassing case of former Lanao del Sur Rep. Macabangkit Lanto, who was forced to decline his appointment due to his having been ousted from his congressional post.

“We’re exercising even more due diligence,” he told Palace reporters in a chance interview in Naga City. “There is a new list that is being formulated and we are vetting even more than the other times that we have vetted candidates.”

The search committee is reportedly still in the process of preparing a longer list of nominees.

Malacañang said that appointments Aquino made beyond the March 29 ban are still legal and should not be cause for concern.

Valte said that a list of upcoming appointments that Aquino made Tuesday and Wednesday last week will not be covered by the appointments ban.

“I was advised that the President signed a number of appointments and these are still being processed, including their transmittal papers. I’m also told by the OES (Office of the Executive Secretary under Paquito Ochoa Jr.) that a majority of them are appointments under the judiciary,” she said.

In 2010, even before Aquino assumed the presidency, he branded the appointment of former chief justice Renato Corona as a “midnight appointment” of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Corona was appointed Supreme Court chief after the May 2010 presidential polls, replacing retired chief justice Reynato Puno, despite the clear constitutional provision prohibiting such appointments two months before the elections.

The case was brought before the Supreme Court which eventually upheld the validity of Corona’s appointment.

In December 2011, Aquino’s allies in the House of Representatives filed an impeachment complaint against Corona. Five months later, the Senate Impeachment Court convicted Corona and booted him out of office.