MANILA, Philippines — On his final day as ad interim chairman of the constitutional body, Commission on Elections Commissioner Saidamen Pangarungan said he accepts the outcome of today’s hearing “with a heavy heart.”
However, Pangarungan maintained that he is proud of what the Comelec accomplished in the recently concluded national and local elections.
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“Today, my ad interim appointment as Chairman of the Commission on Elections ends. Due to a lack of quorum, the appointments of President Rodrigo Duterte to the independent Constitutional Commission have all been bypassed,” Pangarungan said in a statement sent to reporters on Wednesday.
“It is with a heavy heart that I accept such outcome but I would like to restate my utmost respect to the actions of the CA (Commission on Appointments).”
President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Pangarungan earlier this year in March, along with Comelec Commissioners Aimee Torrefranca-Neri and George Garcia. Presidential appointments still need to get the approval of the congressional CA as a check and balance.
Their appointment hearing was rescheduled twice and when Congress adjourned on Wednesday, none of them were formally appointed due to the lack of quorum.
Commission on Audit chairperson Rizalina Justol and Civil Service Commission chairperson Karlo Nograles also failed to secure a nod from the CA.
READ: Marcos Jr. gets to pick new Comelec, CSC, COA chairs as they fail to secure CA nod
Despite this, Pangarungan said they remain proud after having “successfully defended the sovereign right of suffrage of the Filipino people with the highest voter turnout in Philippine election history,” citing the 83.07% voter turnout.
He added that the 2022 polls were also “the most peaceful election” with only 27 election related incidents, lower versus the 66 reported in 2019 midterm elections and the 167 logged in the 2016 national elections.
Pangarungan also noted that the last polls saw the fastest transmission of election results through the transparency server. Just a few hours after polls closed on May 9, a huge chunk of the votes were already reflected in the transparency server.
On top of this, Pangarungan said this year’s polls also saw the fastest proclamation of winning candidates.
“Because of these, I believe that I would have been confirmed by the CA had there been a quorum,” Pangarungan said.