Pimentel offers five names for last seat in Comelec

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. has offered President Arroyo five names to consider for the last open slot in the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Pimentel floated the five names following a statement by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita that the administration would consider nominees from the opposition for the Comelec.

The following names were submitted by Pimentel: former Human Rights Commissioner Nasser Marahomsalic, former Immigration Commissioner Rufus Rodriguez, former Solicitor General Frank Chavez, San Beda law professor Edna Batacan and lawyer Wendel Avisado of Davao.

Pimentel is pushing for the participation of the opposition in the selection process in the Comelec as part of the process of cleansing the image of the poll body.

He has repeatedly called for the resignation of Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos and all the commissioners involved in the approval of the controversial MegaPacific counting machines contract that was nullified last year by the Supreme Court.

Since Abalos and the concerned commissioners have not heeded his call, Pimentel said the President could still inject some credibility into the Comelec by appointing a commissioner recommended by the opposition.

Besides the counting machines controversy, the Comelec has also been hounded by allegations of vote-rigging activities perpetrated by its former commissioner, Virgilio Garcillano, which were revealed in the highly publicized "Hello, Garci" scandal.

Garcillano was allegedly the subject of a wiretapping operation, the tapes of which indicated that he spoke with several politicians — including a woman believed to be Mrs. Arroyo — during the election period of 2004.