Female ex-mayor to head Comelec?

MANILA, Philippines - A former mayor identified with the lawyers of Interior Secretary Mar Roxas is among those being considered to head the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Sources said lawyer Rowena Guanzon, whose appointment to the Commission on Audit (COA) was rejected by the Commission on Appointments, may be named Comelec chief.

The former mayor of Cadiz City in Negros Occidental is a graduate of the UP College of Law and member of the Delta Lambda Sigma, a sister sorority of the Sigma Rho fraternity, to which Roxas’ lawyers Avelino Cruz and Simeon Marcelo belong.

Cruz was defense secretary while Marcelo was ombudsman during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Roxas was then secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Recent reports showed that lawyer Ed Escueta of the National Police Commission (Napolcom), also a Sigma Rho member, is applying for the Comelec vacancy.

Incumbent Comelec Commissioner Arthur Lim has been endorsed by Senate President Franklin Drilon to head the poll body.

Drilon and Lim, also both members of the Sigma Rho fraternity, were classmates at the UP College of Law.

As reported by television network ABS-CBN, deputy executive secretary for legal affairs Michael Aguinaldo may head the Commission on Audit.

Presidenital Communiations Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. is seeking to head the Civil Service Commission, another independent constitutional body, to replace Francisco Duque III, an Arroyo appointee.

Nobody has been eyed yet to replace Aguinaldo, who still has to resolve a problem at the Philippine National Police caused by the resignation of PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima.

Purisima’s resignation has prevented President Aquino from naming his successor.

The same is true with Coloma, although veteran broadcast journalist Jing Magsaysay – whose appointment to the Communications Group in 2010 was given to former secretary Ricky Carandang – was among those endorsed.

Magsaysay, a pioneer at ABS-CBN, is now with CNN Philippines.

Another Cabinet official, whom sources refused to name yet, may also be transferred to the Presidential Communications Operations Office, which handles the state media, among them PTV-4 and radio station dzRB (Radyo ng Bayan).