Comelec timelines

With its inherent deficiencies and weaknesses, the Philippine bureaucracy is not running without any safety valves in situations such as vacancy due to whatever cause. The automatic provisions of the Administrative Code of 1987 kicks in also when a vacancy arises at the end of the fixed-term official while no successor has yet to be appointed.

This is the raison d’ etre of such official designation as in “acting” capacity, or officer-in-charge (OIC).

Hence, there should be no issue if, or when no new chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is appointed before the incumbent head of the seven-man poll body steps down at the end of his term of office. The most senior Comelec commissioner takes over in “acting” capacity as soon as outgoing Comelec chairman Sheriff Abas steps down on Feb. 2.

President Rodrigo Duterte named Abas as chairman of the poll body in 2017 following the controversial resignation of former Comelec chairman Andres Bautista. Abas completed the un-expired term of Bautista. As fixed by the country’s 1987 Constitution, the Comelec chairman has a fixed term of seven years in office unless otherwise cut by resignation, removed by impeachment, incapacity, or death.

Aside from Abas, the term of office of two other Comelec Commissioners, namely, Rowena Guanzon and Antonio Kho are also winding down on the same day, Feb. 2. Incidentally, Kho is among the eight nominees in the “short list” of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) to replace Supreme Court associate justice Rosmari Carandang who retired last Jan.9. As of this writing, President Duterte has yet to act on the JBC recommendations sent to him on Dec.17 last year.

Meanwhile, the poll body will be left with four members. But four members constitute the majority number of the Comelec when voting en banc on election cases and other official matters and decisions taken up. The four incumbent Commissioners are, namely, Socorro Inting, Marlon Casquejo, Aimee Ferolino-Ampoloquio, and Rey Bulay.

These four Comelec commissioners, plus Kho are all appointees of outgoing President Duterte. Except for Bulay, the three other Comelec commissioners have Davao City as their common point of origin. Bulay was appointed in November of last year. Bulay is a Lex Taliones fraternity brother of the President in San Beda College of Law.

Of the four Comelec commissioners, Inting is the most senior in the hierarchy of appointees. Inting was first appointed by President Duterte to the Comelec on April 17, 2018. Casquejo got appointed on June 19, 2018 while Ampoloquio was named on Nov. 26, 2020.

“Commissioner Socorro Inting, most senior commissioner on Feb. 3, will be Acting Chairperson @Comelec while PRRD (President Duterte) has not appointed a Chair,” Guanzon posted in her official Twitter account last Monday. Is Guanzon preempting the president?

Both Abas and Guanzon were appointees of the late president Benigno Simeon “PNoy” Aquino III in 2015. Commissioner Casquejo has a fixed term ending on Feb. 2, 2025. On the other hand, both Ampoloquio and Bulay have fixed-terms ending on Feb. 2, 2027.

For the past five and a half years of his administration, President Duterte has closely tried to adhere to his avowed policy of seniority rule in the appointment as well as in the promotion of government officials. This policy has never been more demonstrated in the latest presidential appointments in the vacancies arising in various government agencies during the past few weeks. The latest of whom was the President’s designation of deputy director general of the Foods and Drugs Administration (FDA) Dr. Oscar Gutierrez in “acting” capacity to succeed FDA director-general Dr. Eric Domingo who resigned last Jan. 3 of this year.

With a little over five months left of his administration, President Duterte cited it would be less disruptive to the operations of the government agency to appoint or promote “insiders” or from within the ranks of the organization. In this way, the Chief Executive pointed out, whoever succeeds him in office at Malacanang would have free hands to pick his or her own people to help run the government after his administration.

This policy augurs well in the choice of the heads and members of constitutional bodies like the Comelec if only to give a semblance of independence, or autonomy from the appointing authority.

Ampoloquio is a Comelec executive who rose from the ranks. Ampoloquio previously worked as election supervisor of Davao del Norte. Her credentials include 12 years of experience as an election assistant and another decade as an election officer. She first worked in Comelec in 1994.

Inting, on the other hand, once served at the Public Attorney’s Office, an agency attached to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Inting also worked as a prosecutor in Davao City, Cebu City and Manila. She worked her way up to become a judge at the Makati Metropolitan Trial Court and Manila Regional Trial Court. It was former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who appointed her to the Court of Appeals in 2009.

President Duterte might likely follow his own seniority rule in choosing the next Comelec chairman. The President needs to fill these vacancies at the Comelec sooner than later. Should Inting is indeed appointed eventually as permanent head of the poll body, she will serve until the end of her term ending on Feb.2, 2025 yet.

Various election watchdogs led by the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) have came out with statements that whoever would be appointed as the new Comelec Chairman and two poll commissioners must have credentials that include a history and experience of being independent-minded.

Given the timelines of Comelec for the holding this year of the national and local elections on May 9, there should be no interregnum in the preparations of the poll body. The President must name the three new Comelec commissioners if they will hit the ground running to supervise the various election activities that will take place all over the country.