EDITORIAL - Preparing for HOPE

With two months to go before the general elections, President Duterte has filled all the vacancies in the seven-member Commission on Elections. Saidamen Balt Pangarungan, former head of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, becomes the second Muslim to chair the Comelec.

Appointed as commissioners were election lawyer George Garcia and Aimee Torrefranca-Neri who has occupied several positions in the Duterte administration, in social welfare, the Bureau of Immigration and the Department of Justice.

All Comelec officials are now appointees of President Duterte. This was the same situation in 2016, when all the Comelec officials were appointees of then president Benigno Aquino III. It didn’t spell victory for Aquino’s endorsed successor. The public is expecting the same impartiality from the current Comelec bench. Garcia, who lawyered for several candidates including Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the latter’s electoral protest against Leni Robredo in the 2016 vice presidential race, has vowed to stay out of his former clients’ cases and avoid conflict of interest.

Malacañang said President Duterte told his appointees to ensure “honest, peaceful, credible and free elections.” This should go without saying, and the fact that the reminder must be expressed in public reflects the problems that hound the Comelec in every electoral exercise.

HOPE – honest, orderly and peaceful election – has been an aspiration of the country since the restoration of democracy in 1986. Realizing the objective continues to be a work in progress. Electoral protests particularly in local races flood the Comelec after every election. Armed violence has become an ugly fixture in election races across the country.

With all vacancies in the Comelec’s top posts now filled, the poll body can intensify efforts to ensure the credibility of the upcoming elections. The country is just starting to emerge from its worst crisis since World War II. Proper leadership is critical in recovery efforts. And that leadership must be installed through credible, honest elections.