Several days ago, President B. S. Aquino 3rd said the primary task of the newly appointed Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Hernando Iriberri would be to ensure “clean, honest, peaceful and orderly elections” in 2016. It was the first time Aquino ever spoke of the need to keep the elections clean and honest. But he left us no illusion that he meant what he said. For what he has done until now is to ensure that the elections remain under Malacañang’s control, which is the opposite of being free, clean and honest.

Under the Constitution, the Commission on Elections shall deputize, with the concurrence of the President, the law enforcement agencies, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines, for the “exclusive purpose of ensuring free, orderly, honest, peaceful and credible elections.” It is the Comelec (repeat, the Comelec), not the President, which shall deputize the AFP at the proper time. The President shall merely concur; he shall not bark his order to the Chief of Staff ten months before the elections.

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