Comelec or Senate? De Lima still undecided

MANILA, Philippines - Will it be elections chief next year or senator in 2016 for Justice Secretary Leila de Lima?

De Lima said she still does not know what will be next for her – whether to move to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to replace Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. upon his retirement in February or run for senator in the next polls.

“I haven’t talked to the President yet about anything regarding plans after 2016. I really don’t know what’s next – Comelec, Senate or other options, including return to private life,” she said in a text message yesterday.

De Lima made the statement amid reports that she is among those being considered to replace Brillantes, along with Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino.

“To be honest about it, people have been asking me but I have not decided yet. I really don’t know yet,” she said.

But the feisty Cabinet member admitted she is considering several options, including a possible political career or going back to private law practice.

“I’m retirable by 2016, so I have several options,” she hinted.

De Lima was a known election lawyer prior to her joining the government in 2008 as head of the Commission on Human Rights. Her late father Vicente was a former Comelec commissioner.

Former Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez recently bared that De Lima is one of Cabinet members being eyed by the ruling Liberal Party (LP) for the 2016 senatorial lineup, along with Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman.

De Lima earlier bared that Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II raised the possibility of her being included by the LP for the Senate slate in 2016 polls.

“But he said it as a joke only, of course,” she clarified.

De Lima also said it is too early to make such a decision, opting to focus on her duties in the Justice department.