Wanted: ‘Garci-free’ Comelec nominees

The search for nominees who would qualify to fill vacancies in the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is fast becoming a difficult process. It is not because of lack of candidates, in fact, there are a lot of potential nominees. What is difficult is the lack of transparency in the screening and selection process to make the final choice of appointee by President Arroyo acceptable to the people in general.

This we saw last week when the President, out of the blue, announced the ad interim appointment of former Iligan City Judge Moslemen T. Macarambon who takes over the post left by retired Comelec commissioner Mehol K. Sadain. To his credit though, Macarambon comes to Comelec holding the basic qualifications required of his job at the poll body.

Our country’s Constitution prescribes the qualifications for a Comelec post as follows: (a) natural-born citizen of the Philippines; (b) at least 35 years of age at the time of appointment; (c) holder of a college degree; (d) must not have been a candidate for any elective position in the immediate preceding elections; (e) a majority of the Commissioners, including the Chairman, shall be members of the Philippine Bar who have been engaged in the practice of law for at least 10 years.

What made certain opposition leaders like Senator Panfilo Lacson to question the President’s appointment of Macarambon were the reports linking the former Mindanao judge to controversial ex-Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano. The name of Garcillano has notoriously become known as the “Hello, Garci” referred to by the Chief Executive in a wiretapped telephone conversation asking the results of the fraud-tainted May 2004 presidential elections.

Rightly or wrongly, the ghosts of “Hello, Garci” will continue to haunt any nominees to the Comelec. Of course, Macarambon vehemently denies his purported association with Garci. He has made these official denials before media. But he may have to do more denials, perhaps until he turns blue when he appears before the Commission on Appointments (CA).

Lacson vowed to grill Macarambon before this 25-man congressional bicameral body that screens presidential appointees, including those in constitutional agencies like the Comelec. The CA, chaired by Senate president Manuel Villar, tackles objections to the appointment of Macarambon once the Palace transmits his nomination now that the newly appointed Comelec commissioner has taken his oath of office amid these “Hello, Garci” allegations.

Macarambon’s appointment came a few days after acting Comelec chairman Resurreccion Z. Borra revealed to the press having received communications from the Palace Search Committee about seven names being nominated to the Comelec vacancies. One of them included former Senator Rene Saguisag who unfortunately got severely injured in a tragic vehicular accident yesterday in Makati City and lost his beloved wife, Dulce after their van was smashed by a speeding dump truck. Saguisag, who is one of the lawyers of deposed President Joseph Estrada, however, immediately rejected his nomination to the poll body.

The six other Palace nominees are Opposition Congressman Rufus Rodriguez (Cagayan de Oro, PMP); former Senator Wigberto Tañada, Howard Calleja of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV); Dean Amado Valdez of the University of the East-College of Law; Comelec law department chief Alioden Dalaig; and a certain Severo Maluenda.

By the reckoning of Comelec commissioner Rene Sarmiento, the seven-man Comelec staff would have three vacancies come Feb. 2 next year. This is because Borra and Commissioner Florentino A. Tuason Jr. will be retiring at the end of their respective seven-year terms in office on the same day. The third vacancy will come from the effectivity of retirement of erstwhile Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. The ex-Comelec chairman supposedly resigned on Oct. 1 after he figured in the alleged bribery scandal on the $329 million national broadband network (NBN) project.

Considering Comelec’s critical role in the democratic choice of our leaders from national to the village level, where should the chairman and commissioners be drawn from and how should they be chosen? Commissioner Sarmiento posed this question and answered his own question. He cited that certain countries’ nominees to the electoral management body (EMB) come from eminent members of the community rather than from members of political parties.

Members of the EMB are often eminent public figures renowned for political neutrality with expertise in fields such as law, public administration, political science, or the media. Sarmiento noted this is how it’s done in progressive countries like Australia, Austria and Canada as well as those in our neighbors India, Indonesia, Thailand, to as far as Poland, Costa Rica and Ukraine. The process of appointment in some countries like South Africa and Namibia are, in fact, participatory and transparent, he said. In these two countries, Sarmiento added, members of EMB are recruited through open advertisement and interested candidates may apply directly. 

Using this Sarmiento proposal, I am glad to learn that retired Justice Raoul V. Victorino is one nominee who fits such qualities. Victorino, who is currently a member of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) representing the private sector, informed me that he has filed his application to the Palace Search Committee to consider him for appointment to the Comelec. He served in different posts in government of four presidents of the country from the time of ex-President Corazon Aquino to Estrada. He served as associate justice of the Sandiganbayan from 2000 to 2005. His track record as a public official from the time he joined the government service in 1977 is untarnished by any wrongdoing or impropriety while in office.  He is one “Garci-free” candidate for Comelec post.

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