'Screen all 5 bets for Comelec chairmanship'

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino wants to personally screen all the five applicants for chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

He has confirmed five names recommended by his search committee to replace Jose Melo, whose resignation takes effect on Jan. 31.

However, he does not want to consider them nominees until he had interviewed them, he added.

Aquino said integrity beyond reproach, impartiality and know-how in information technology would be an advantage for the applicants.

Applicants should not necessarily be justices or former justices of the Supreme Court (SC), he added.

Aquino downplayed insinuations of opposition Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano that several “Comelec operators” are in his list of nominees to replace Melo as chairman.

These are mere speculations, he added.

Expertise in election law will also be a criterion because he is looking for somebody who has the skills and efficiency to address common concerns during the election period, Aquino said.

Among the names that have so far cropped up are those of SC Justice Eduardo Antonio Nachura, retired SC Justice Leonardo Quisumbing and veteran election lawyer Sixto Brillantes Jr.

Aquino refused to confirm or deny the names that Melo mentioned.

Melo’s successor will serve his unexpired term, which is until 2015.

Melo: I can’t be reappointed

Malacañang cannot reappoint him to the Comelec, the outgoing chairman said yesterday.

However, Melo said his scheduled retirement on Jan. 31 may be extended if the Palace so decides.

“If there would be an offer, and if you would ask whether I am willing to delay my resignation, we will cross the bridge when we get there,” he said.

The Constitution prohibits President Aquino from reappointing him to the poll body after his retirement, he added.

Melo tendered his resignation last November after overseeing the successful conduct of the first automated elections in the country last May.

Melo, who took over from Benjamin Abalos three years ago, was supposed to stay for seven years, but opted to retire early.

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. was quoted as saying that Melo can be reappointed in an ad interim basis until Malacannang has found a replacement for him.

Cayetano to Aquino: Create search committee for next Comelec chief

At the Senate, Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano urged President Aquino yesterday to create a search committee for the next Comelec chairman and other commissioners.

“On the issue of choosing the new commissioners and chairman, I hope we give consideration to the single biggest issues during the Arroyo administration, which is the ‘Hello, Garci’ scandal, and that electoral cheating has caused massive corruption and instability in the country,” he said.

The committee can include representatives from the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), as well as other groups and stakeholders, he added.

Cayetano said to erase doubts on the Comelec’s credibility, a task force must be created to choose nominees for the vacant posts in the Comelec.

“I think we owe it to our people, that the Palace, although it is within their right to search and appoint, to have a transparent and open system of searching for the new chairman and for the commissioners who will be retiring soon,” he said.

Cayetano said the multisectoral election watchdog Consortium for Electoral Reform, media groups, other non-government organizations, and other stakeholders can also be consulted on possible nominees for the Comelec.

“We have many NGOs involved in the election process including Namfrel, the group of Casiple, some media organizations involved in the elections,” he said.

“Why not form them in one group and make them the search committee?” – With Mayen Jaymalin, Christina Mendez