The public will be invited to apply and nominate candidates for the new chairperson of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in what could be a departure from the normal practice, Malacañang said yesterday.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye made the announcement after President Arroyo last week created a five-man screening and selection committee for the vacant positions of Comelec to ensure transparency in choosing the country’s top poll official.
“Although the Constitution gives the power of appointment to the President, she has opened the field of choice as wide as possible,” Bunye said.
He said the invitation for applications and nominations will be published in major newspapers shortly.
Bunye said the panel, chaired by former Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) chairman of the board Bernardino Abes, held their first meeting on Monday and gave their criteria for recommending a shortlist of candidates for the top Comelec post.
The members of the committee are industrialist and National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) prime mover Jose Concepcion; respected journalist and Philippine STAR columnist Carmen Pedrosa; former finance secretary Vicente Jayme; and labor leader and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) president Democrito Mendoza.
Center of Anti-Graft and Corruption Prevention Secretary General Lane Afable also attended the meeting.
Concepcion recommended that candidates, whether they are for chairman or commissioners, should be lawyers with 10 years experience, with adequate skills in management and “able to lead and be a good role model to the staff, among others.”
After some discussion, the panel members agreed that knowledge in computer technology, although desirable, should not be necessary for the position of Comelec chairperson, Bunye said.
Jayme suggested that the criteria should conform to the functions and objectives of the Comelec. In this regard, it was decided that the committee invite former Comelec commissioners as resource persons to the next meeting.
Afable wrote to Mrs. Arroyo that she consider candidates who were not members of or affiliated with any political party.
He said the candidates must have at least seven years of untainted work experience as a Comelec official and eight years in the judiciary.