Lackeys and heroes

AUTHOR’S NOTE: After I submitted this column, news broke out that the Comelec, by a vote of four to three, agreed to accept the Liberal Party’s late filing of its Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE). Those who voted against it were Chairman Andres Bautista and commissioners Christian Lim and Louie Tito Guia. The four who supported the Liberal Party were commissioners Arthur Lim, Al Parreno, Sherif Abas and Rowena Guanzon, whom I very erroneously described in the column as a “feisty, principled woman.” I guess her feistiness was all for show. The column’s title has been changed to: “Lackeys and heroes,” from the original, “The Comelec: Aquino’s lackeys or democracy’s heroes?”

Just when they were heaving a sigh of relief that they largely passed the test of integrity and neutrality despite all the claims of anomalies in the recent elections, Comelec members found themselves nearing a defining moment in history in which they could either be condemned as lackeys of an outgoing President and his losing Liberal Party, or praised as democracy’s heroes.