‘Wow mali!’

It was rather disturbing that the two newly appointed officials of President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III have separately declined their nominations after these were made public. Election lawyer Bernadette Sardillo and former Justice Undersecretary Makabangkit Lanto declined one after the other their respective appointments as new commissioners in the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

This only heightened public perception of the poor quality of staff work that President Aquino gets from his Palace aides. In this particular instance, there is supposed to be a Palace staff tasked to screen and vet nominees recommended to the President for his consideration. Once the pertinent papers and documents pass through the required complete staff work — if they have any — it is only then the Chief Executive signs their appointment papers.

This came at a time when no less than President Aquino admitted in public that a letter to him by the Sultanate of Sulu “got lost in the bureaucratic maze.” The President confessed this after he checked whatever happened to the Sabah claims. The letter was sent to him during his first few weeks in office in July 2010. And now, we are having this Sabah crisis.

It is really disturbing and a cause for concern for us taxpayers how such very important matters of state like presidential appointees and letters are forwarded to P-Noy with that kind of faulty processing system — if they follow any — at Malacañang Palace.

In this case of the Comelec, the two appointments are critical as they are holding positions in a constitutional body that require prior confirmation by Congress, specifically the bicameral body called Commission on Appointments (CA).

It was President Aquino himself who announced the appointments of Lanto and Sardillo during a press conference last March 7 while he was in Davao City. The President took the occasion to make this announcement after he joined the campaign stump of his Team PNoy senatorial ticket in the coming May 13 elections.

The President told reporters he was the one who interviewed the three nominees given to him for the two Comelec vacancies. Lanto and Sardillo were named to replace commissioners Rene Sarmiento and Armando Velasco who both retired last Feb. 2.

President Aquino cited Lanto’s record of public service. Aside from being a former justice undersecretary, Lanto, 70, is a former ambassador, former Congressman, and former tourism undersecretary in various administrations. During the same announcement of new Comelec appointees, the President also vouched for Sardillo’s integrity as an election lawyer.

A day after the President’s announcement of their appointments, Lanto went to Comelec in Intramuros and met with chairman Sixto Brillantes, presumably to feel his way in his would-be new office. Sardillo was a no-show though.

It turned out two days later, Sardillo decided to decline her presidential appointment. Citing vague family health reasons, Sardillo unexpectedly begged off from serving in the Comelec. The Palace mouthpieces had no choice but to announce the President accepted Sardillo’s decision. Had the Palace staff checked first with the appointee’s acceptance, this rather embarrassing moment for the President could have been avoided.

But Sardillo’s about-face was reportedly due to stiff objections by another newly appointed Comelec commissioner, ex-Isabela Governor Grace Padaca. Sardillo happens to be the election lawyer of ex-Isabela Gov. Benjamin Dy, Padaca’s political rival.          

Of the two presidential appointees to Comelec though, Lanto received the most violent objections from the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), rival of Team PNoy in the coming Senate race. UNA expressed deep concern that Lanto’s appointment to the Comelec was “lobbied” by administration ally, Sen. Franklin Drilon, campaign manager of the Liberal Party (LP)-led Team PNoy. Lanto served as a consultant of Drilon for various Senate panels.

Lanto’s dark past came to light when he was removed as congressman of the second district of Lanao del Norte in 1992. The House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) ruled Lanto’s victory during the 9th Congress was a product of election fraud. More worrisome, as dug up by UNA, the integrity of Lanto leaves much to be desired.

Lanto swore the HRET found no active role on his part in the alleged election fraud. But it appeared Lanto had another pending case before the poll body. Lanto was accused of coercing a member of the Board of Election Inspectors in Lanao del Sur during the May, 2007 midterm elections. Brillantes announced later the Comelec finally dismissed this case.

The discovery of yet another case against Lanto finally broke the camel’s back. Lanto decided to follow the lead of Sardillo and gave up last Monday his appointment. Lanto virtually blamed the media focus on his case at HRET 20 years ago. Thus, he conceded it would be difficult for him to pursue his advocacy for electoral reforms at Comelec. 

To Lanto’s credit, delicadeza prevailed over him. And to think another presidential appointee at Comelec remains also very controversial. Like Lanto, Padaca has a pending case at the Sandiganbayan filed against her by the Ombudsman when P-Noy appointed her in October last year. Padaca was charged for alleged anomalous grant of a P25-million rice program contract to a private firm without the conduct of public bidding while she was governor of Isabela in 2006.

What made public opinion more adverse on Padaca was when PNoy paid for her temporary liberty on bail. Oblivious of these criticisms and with only an ad interim appointment because the CA has yet to confirm her, there is no indication of Padaca giving up her Comelec post.

But Padaca is leaving Comelec on official mission — again. Barely two months in Comelec, Padaca flew to US on official mission. Yesterday, the Sandiganbayan allowed her to post travel bond of P140,000 after granting her request to fly to Abu Dhabi from April 2 to April 7 for the conduct of Comelec trainings on absentee voting.

In baseball competition, a third strike means end of the game. With the mid-term elections just around the corner, P-Noy cannot afford to commit another “wow, mali” again in filling the two Comelec vacancies.