Comelec commissioners named

Malacañang announced yesterday the appointment of two lawyers to the seven-member Commission on Elections (Comelec) as the official campaign period kicked off.

President Arroyo made the announcement during her campaign sortie in Los Baños, Laguna, where she named lawyers Manuel Barcelona Jr., 68, and Virgilio Garcillano, 66, to the Comelec.

The two replaced Luzviminda Tancangco and Ralph Lantion who retired Feb. 2 after completing their fixed five-year terms.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo had notified Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos of the new appointments.

Both appointees are veteran lawyers with decades of respected work in their fields.

The appointments were confirmed by Abalos, who said he personally knew Garcillano.

Abalos said he recruited Garcillano out of retirement to become Comelec consultant for Mindanao.

Opposition and re-electionist Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. earlier predicted Barcelona and Garcillano were among those being groomed to fill up the two vacant posts in the poll body.

Pimentel alleged that some of the appointees are connected with the Villaraza Law Office, a law firm closely associated with First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, who is also a lawyer.

Pimentel particularly tagged Garcillano as among the poll officials in Northern Mindanao who had allowed the registration of bogus voters from the Comelec master list in the region.

He said Garcillano, who retired last year as Comelec director for Northern Mindanao, defied an order from the Comelec national office to nullify the registration of flying voters in the region and prevent them from voting during the elections.

Pimentel claimed during a recent privilege speech that Garcillano was among the poll officials involved in the "dagdag-bawas" (vote-padding and shaving mechanism) which deprived him of a seat in the Senate in the 1995 elections.

Barcelona, on the other hand, is a principal partner of the Barcelona, Barcelona and Magdamit Law Offices.

A UP law graduate in 1957, Barcelona was chairman of the board of the Philippine Postal Corp. (PhilPost) until his appointment to the Comelec.

Barcelona has held top posts in the Bar Association including president in 1989-1990. He was also member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, American Bar Association, and the Philippine panel in aviation talks with different countries.

In the website of Transparent Accountable Governance (TAG), Barcelona was listed as among the campaign contributors of Mrs. Arroyo during the 1998 elections when she was elected vice president.

The group quoted a report from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) that his son, Manuel Barcelona III, supposedly donated P500,000 to the campaign kitty of Mrs. Arroyo.

On the other hand, Garcillano, a graduate of the University of the East College of Law in 1960, joined the poll body in 1961. He served as Comelec director in the Marcos years until after Corazon Aquino came into power in 1986.

"He (Garcillano) was okay for me. He was very active," said Comelec Education and Information Division (EID) Director Ferdinand Rafanan.

Rafanan said Garcillano had to leave for the US when Mrs. Aquino became president but managed to return when former general Fidel Ramos was elected president in 1992.

Pimentel earlier criticized Mrs. Arroyo for deliberately delaying the appointment of two new commissioners to bypass their confirmation before the lawmakers comprising the Commission on Appointments.

He said any appointment done when Congress adjourns its session in preparation for the campaign period will deprive the CA of its chance to confirm the appointments of the two new poll commissioners.

Malacañang earlier disclosed there was a "short list" of possible replacements for two positions in the seven-member poll body.

But Bunye declined to name those in the list, saying only that the search committee headed by Bernardino Abes vetted the nomination process.

With the retirement of Tancangco and Lantion, the majority of remaining Comelec commissioners led by Abalos are all appointees of Mrs. Arroyo, a balance considered crucial in the upcoming elections.

Both Garcillano and Barcelona will now join Abalos in the seven-man poll body as appointees of Mrs. Arroyo, who is seeking a full ssix-year term on May 10.