Noy: Brillantes should not leave post at most crucial time

LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines – As far as President Aquino is concerned, Commission on Elections chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. should not leave the independent constitutional body at a most crucial time, or barely a month before the May 13 elections.

“I think he will see that the country needs him to chair the Comelec at this crucial period,” Aquino told reporters here during the groundbreaking ceremony of the widening of the Mactan circumferential road.

Aquino said he would always be available to the Comelec chief whenever he needs his advice. “I’m at his disposal. When he feels that he’s ready to meet with me, I’m always ready to meet with him,” he said.

And if they ever meet, Aquino said he would ask Brillantes to stay, most especially because filling a void is not that easy, since he would again be vetting candidates who will have to replace him.

“Of course, we’ll have to ask for him to stay. It’s less than a month before the elections. And I suppose it’s really difficult to appoint a new Comelec chairman at that late point,” Aquino said.

Brillantes, for his part, said he wanted to become an ambassador should he resign from Comelec.

“I am planning to ask the President if he can just appoint me as an ambassador so that I can have some rest… being with the Comelec is really tiring,” he said.

According to Brillantes, he is wishing to become an ambassador to Eastern European countries like Romania, Slovakia and Hungary where there are not so many Filipinos.

Brillantes admitted that ambassadorship was one of the positions he was eyeing when Aquino assumed the presidency.

Brillantes said he would be going on a weekend retreat and then make his announcement on whether he will quit from the Comelec.

It is suspected, however, that just like his predecessor, former chairman Jose Melo, Brillantes would resign from Comelec after next month’s elections.

Melo resigned in January 2011 after the country’s first automated polls in May 2010.

Former senator and Team PNoy senatorial candidate Ramon Magsaysay Jr. earlier warned that the possible resignation of Brillantes over the legal setbacks in the Supreme Court (SC) would disrupt the May 13 elections.

Magsaysay said there is no need for a vacancy in the Comelec chairmanship because the election is just around the corner.

“We do not need a leadership vacuum at this point,” he said.

Brillantes had aid he was thinking of resigning following the series of legal setbacks at the SC, particularly on the issues of party-list representation and more recently, reducing the airtime limits on political advertisements.

Magsaysay also appealed to the Comelec and the SC for sobriety, adding that a standoff between the two institutions could divide the nation.

“We all need to take a deep breath, calm down and think things over. We cannot afford mistakes at this time, especially those arising from rash decisions,” Magsaysay said.

“If the SC insists on the supremacy of its decisions and the Comelec stands by its rulings, the government and the Filipino people would be torn over which decision to follow. And this could raise constitutional questions,” he added.

The SC has the final say on all questions regarding constitutional and legal issues. – With Sheila Crisostomo