Disappointed Brillantes ready to resign

MANILA, Philippines - After getting a fourth blow from the Supreme Court (SC), a teary-eyed Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes said yesterday that he is ready to resign from his post.

“I’m very disappointed. This is not the first decision (against Comelec). This is the fourth. I don’t understand. If they want to regulate the way of campaigning, then what will be the Comelec? Are we useless?” he told reporters.

Brillantes was reacting to the status quo ante order (SQA) issued yesterday by the SC to stop the Comelec from implementing airtime limits on the campaign advertisements of candidates on television and radio.

He noted that the campaign period is already halfway through for SC to issue such an SQA, putting another dent on the Comelec’s efforts to initiate electoral reforms.

“Everything we do, they stopped through TRO (and SQA) and I don’t think we are wrong. If you issued a TRO without knowing the consequences, it was not studied well,” he noted, referring to a temporary restraining order.

Brillantes admits he is beginning to think that maybe he has been “too strict” in pursuing reforms.

“Initially, my reaction was maybe the problem is with me. Maybe I’m too strict. They may be thinking that I like to be in this position,” he added.

Before facing the media, Brillantes went to the offices of Comelec commissioners Lucenito Tagle, Christian Robert Lim and Grace Padaca for a meeting.

It turned out that he told the officials that he was planning to “rest a little, (maybe) one day or two days.” The commissioners have discouraged Brillantes from doing so.

“Maybe I’ll talk to the President.  I’ll tell him maybe I am the problem and I may have to leave so he can appoint (a replacement.) I’ll study this seriously,” he said, his voice breaking.

The 73-year-old Brillantes said all he wanted to do during his time with the Comelec is to “make the necessary reforms.”

Brillantes was appointed to the Comelec by President Aquino in January 2011, replacing former chairman Jose Melo.

“But if all I’ll get is TRO and SQA why should I make it hard for myself? I think it’s about time I decide (if I should) continue as chairman of this commission. I would have done my job already and our work is almost over,” he added.

The poll chief claimed that he is getting tired. “I’m not young anymore.”

According to Brillantes, the first blow came when the SC issued a TRO stopping the agency from enforcing its order to remove the “Team Patay/Team Buhay” tarpaulins in front of the Bacolod cathedral last month.

The Comelec found the tarpaulins in violation of the prescribed sizes for campaign posters so it wanted the materials taken down.

The second setback was when the SC issued SQAs against the Comelec’s purging of the party-list system. The tribunal had remanded to the poll body the cases of the 52 party-list organizations that it disqualified for not genuinely representing the marginalized sectors.

The third blow came last week when SC reversed its own ruling in March 2013 unseating Imus, Cavite Mayor Emmanuel Maliksi and reinstating his rival Homer Saquilayan. The court also remanded the case to the poll body.

“For me, as far as I’m concerned, with the series of decisions coming from the SC, it seems that they are the ones running the elections. I thought it’s us,” he added.

Brillantes said that SC seems to be stepping beyond its “provisional authority” by issuing the TROs and SQAs.