PDP-Laban wing exec says clueless on reported talks he'll be next Comelec chief
MANILA, Philippines — The secretary general of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan wing backed by President Rodrigo Duterte said he is clueless about reported talks that he is being eyed as the next Commission on Elections chairman.
“I don’t have any knowledge of that,” Melvin Matibag, secretary general of the PDP-Laban faction led by Energy Sec. Alfonso Cusi, said Friday.
Matibag was asked by reporters for his comment on a Politiko story that claimed that there are discussions that Duterte will appoint him to the Comelec and that he will likely be named as its chief.
The Comelec’s current chairman, Sheriff Abas, will retire in February 2022, paving the way for Duterte to appoint a new head for the poll body just three months before the crucial May 2022 elections which will determine who will lead a pandemic-battered Philippines.
Currently, six of the seven members of the Comelec are Duterte appointees, including its present chief, who was first appointed to the commission in 2015 by the late President Noynoy Aquino.
Of them, commissioners Aimee Ampoloquio, Marlon Casquejo, Socorro Inting and Michael Peloton hail from Davao City, Duterte’s bailiwick.
By February 2022, Duterte would have been able to appoint all members of the poll body as commissioners Rowena Guanzon and Antonio Kho would be stepping down. — Xave Gregorio
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