Inting named acting Comelec chief

MANILA, Philippines — Commission on Elections Commissioner Socorro Inting has been designated anew as the acting chairperson of the poll body after former Comelec chairman Saidamen Pangarungan was bypassed by the Commission on Appointments.

Frances Aguinaldo Arabe, director of the Comelec’s education and information division, told reporters in a Viber message yesterday that Inting has been designated as acting chairperson of Comelec effective June 2, or a day after Pangarungan’s tenure expired.

Pangarungan was appointed by President Duterte as chairman of the Comelec in March this year, a few months before the May 9 polls, under ad interim capacity along with former commissioners George Erwin Garcia and Aimee Torrefranca-Neri.

Inting led yesterday’s en banc session along with Commissioners Marlon Casquejo, Aimee Ferolino and Rey Bulay.

She had also been acting chair of the commission when Sheriff Abas retired last February.

In another development, the Comelec deleted yesterday all the ballot faces used in the May 9 national and local elections in the country from the server of the National Printing Office (NPO), almost a month after the general elections.

“Here, what we need to do is we need to pull out of the NPO because the work of Comelec here at the NPO is over. In order to exit from the NPO completely, one of the last things we need to do is to remove Comelec from the NPO server,” James Jimenez, director of the information and education department, said.

Jimenez explained that the Comelec had the NPO print all the ballots used in the general elections. He said they will also delete the ballot faces that they used for their roadshows, test ballots and the ballots used for overseas voting.

He also emphasized that the move to delete the ballot faces only signified that the May 2022 polls are already over, but the Comelec will have its own copies of the ballot faces.

Jimenez was present during the deletion of ballot faces along with representatives from the political parties, citizen’s arm groups, members of the media and other stakeholders who played an important role in the May 9 elections.