Lawyer declines Comelec post

MANILA, Philippines - Lawyer Maria Bernadette Sardillo declined her appointment as Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner and President Aquino has accepted her decision.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte yesterday said the Office of the President received a letter from Sardillo last Thursday, the same day her appointment was announced by President Aquino, turning down her nomination as Comelec commissioner.

At the same time, Valte assured the public that their concerns on the appointment of Macabangkit Lanto as another Comelec commissioner would be addressed immediately.

“I am deeply grateful for having been considered as commissioner in the Commission on Elections. However, it is also with deep regret that I am withdrawing my application to the commission. This decision was reached after consultation with my family who has prevailed upon me to remain in the private sector. Nevertheless, please be assured of my continued support to your administration,” Valte quoted Sardillo as saying in her letter.

According to Valte, the President has accepted the withdrawal of the application and that the only information given them was that Sardillo has a family member with health concerns.

“And I think that was the reason why the family asked her to remain in the private sector,” Valte said over radio dzRB.

Valte said there was no replacement for Sardillo yet.

Asked about calls to appoint an information technology expert to the Comelec, Valte said the primary consideration in naming people to become officials of the poll body was their capability to execute the mandate.

Disappointed

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes yesterday said he was disappointed that Sardillo declined her appointment to the poll body.

“I’m disappointed and saddened by this. Since she is an election lawyer, she would be a big help to the Comelec. We won’t have to teach her much,” Brillantes said in a telephone interview.

The poll chief said he called and texted Sardillo many times yesterday but failed to get any response.

“I want to know why she declined but she is not answering my calls and text messages. There must be a reason why she declined,” he added.

According to Brillantes, he called Sardillo upon hearing of her appointment last Thursday but she did not give a hint that she would not accept the offer.

“I asked her when she would be coming to Comelec but she told me that she did not have a copy of her appointment papers then. I was hoping that she would come next week,” he said.

Malacañang on Thursday announced that Sardillo and Lanto would replace Comelec commissioners Rene Sarmiento and Armando Velasco who had both retired after completing their seven-year terms.

Sardillo was the lawyer of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD in the 2010 presidential elections.

She is a lawyer of former Supreme Curt associate justice Dante Tinga, who filed an electoral protest against Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano, wife of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, a critic of Brillantes.

If Sardillo became a Comelec commissioner, she would be working closely with Commissioner Grace Padaca, whom she tried to unseat as governor of Isabela years ago.

Sardillo was then a lawyer of Padaca’s rival, former Isabela governor Benjamin Dy.

A source in the House of Representatives told The STAR yesterday that Padaca had objected to the appointment of Sardillo because she served as Dy’s lawyer.

This could be one of the reasons why the new appointee did not accept her appointment, though she said her family did not want her to accept it, the congressman-source said.

Chance to prove worth

Meanwhile, Valte said Lanto had spoken about allegations that he was involved in electoral fraud and that part of the President’s social contract with the people was restoring the credibility of the electoral process.

“Rest assured that these concerns will be resolved in a timely manner,” Valte said.

In a statement to media, Lanto appealed for a chance to prove his worth, saying he was a victim and not a beneficiary of poll fraud.

Lanto said he sought Sen. Frank Drilon’s endorsement because the senator, a long-time friend, knew his long, untainted record in government.

“Drilon knows that I am, never was and will never be anybody’s patsy,” he said.

He revealed that Drilon endorsed his appointment in April 2012 when a vacancy was created by the departure of then commissioner Gus Lagman.

“At that time, Senator Drilon did not know that he would be named campaign manager of Team PNoy,” he said, adding that the endorsement was reiterated when two more vacancies occurred in the commission later.

“I am willing to undergo severe public scrutiny through the Commission on Appointments if only to prove my ability, qualification and integrity as a member of a Comelec that will conduct credible, honest and impartial elections in May,” he said.

Lanto, a former ambassador, justice and tourism undersecretary who was appointed to key government positions by former presidents Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said it was unfair for his detractors to question his reputation based solely on a 1992 electoral protest case in the House of Representative Electoral Tribunal (HRET).

“I was a victim, not a beneficiary nor a perpetrator, of election fraud, in the 1992 election protest case that eventually led to HRET unseating me as Lanao del Norte congressman even if I won the election fair and square,” Lanto said.

He said that the HRET decision, which had always been open to the public, was grossly unfair to him.

“I maintain my position that I, a neophyte politician then, fell victim to the machinations of corrupt HRET technical group personnel who connived with members of an extremely powerful clan in Lanao del Norte whom I embarrassed with my election victory.

“To say that I perpetuated and benefited from election fraud in 1992 was simply preposterous, if not impossible, since it was my first exposure to local politics in Lanao, then considered the political fiefdom of the late political strongman Ali Dimaporo,” Lanto said.

“Being a young lawyer, I simply did not have the wherewithal, guns, goons, gold to perpetuate election fraud under the very noses of the powerful Dimaporo clan,” he added.

“I believe I won the elections fair and square largely due to the endorsement of then President Corazon Aquino and the support the people of Lanao del Norte.

“I am no Virgilio Garcillano. To follow Garcillano’s footsteps is simply absurd, illogical and unthinkable for me,” he said, referring to the former Comelec commissioner who was at the center of a poll fraud controversy in the 2004 elections.  â€“ Aurea Calica, Sheila Crisostomo, Jess Diaz, Jose Rodel Clapano, Marvin Sy