|
By Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter
Malacañang hopes the appointment of retired
Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo will unify the people and clean the
image of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and of the Arroyo
administration.
Over the weekend, several in opposition welcomed
the appointment, although some had reservations.
Referring to Melo, Chief Presidential Legal
Counsel Sergio Apostol said, “His appointment will clear
everything that we never engage ourselves in cheating on election
time.”
The President didn’t give Melo any directive
except to ensure the poll automation of the 2010 presidential
election and to work for an honest and fair election, Apostol added.
He also belied reports that said former Comelec
Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. lobbied for Melo’s appointment.
Melo replaces Abalos who resigned in October
amid claims that he was involved in a major bribery scandal in which
a state-owned Chinese company won a $330-million Internet broadband
deal.
In September, a former Cabinet secretary told a
Senate hearing that Abalos tried to bribe him to ensure that the
contract would go to China’s ZTE Corp. This echoed the accusations
of a failed rival bidder that the firm won the contract through
bribery.
Abalos denied any wrongdoing, but said he was
resigning to keep Comelec from being dragged into the controversy.
The deal with China’s ZTE Corp. was later scrapped.
Apostol said, “You know the demand of all
people including the opposition is for the President to appoint an
impartial and highly qualified individual for Comelec chairman
position.”
“The President is sincere in implementing
reform in the Comelec,” he added.
Apostol had some words of advise for Melo, who
only has two years to complete the automation before the next
elections in 2010. “He should work honestly and ensure justice
will prevail. It’s a hard job, but I believe he can do it.”
Ready to start
Melo, 75, said in an interview with local
dailies that he will accept the offer from President Arroyo to head
Comelec. However, he said he had yet to receive his official
appointment papers.
His priority would be automating the country’s
outdated system of manually counting the votes.
Before his appointment, Melo served 23 years in
the judiciary and later as associate justice of the Supreme Court
from which he retired in 2002.
In 2006, Melo headed a special independent
committee created by Mrs. Arroyo to investigate the rash of
extrajudicial killings in the country. In its report the commission
said members of the military were likely involved in many of the
deaths. The President ordered the Armed Forces to probe its ranks
and end the killings.
For his part, former Comelec Chairman Abalos
described Melo simply as “deserving.”
Abalos sent that one-word text message to The
Manila Times when pressed for comments on Melo’s appointment.
Welcome but...
Opposition leaders have been calling for the
appointment of a credible figure to replace Abalos who has been
accused of favoring Mrs. Arroyo. The President herself has been
fighting accusations she won the 2004 elections through fraud.
Senators Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Francis
Pangilinan and Mar Roxas 2nd welcomed Melo’s appointment, although
they want to see proof that the poll body will act as an independent
body.
They want to see immediate action when Melo
assumes his post as Comelec chair, starting with weeding out and
prosecuting field-election supervisors and other officials involved
in fraudulent practices, especially during the 2004 and 2007
elections.
“Ironically, these scoundrels in the Comelec,
instead of being booted out and charged with criminal offenses, were
promoted to higher positions, courtesy of the previous Comelec
leadership,” Pimentel said.
As a first step, he and Pangilinan want Melo to
arrest Comelec officer Lintang Bedol and file charges against
him—to signal that the new leadership means business.
Pimentel and Roxas want Melo to dismantle the
syndicate allegedly composed of Comelec officials and of fraud
experts responsible for the “dagdag-bawas” (vote shaving)
operations that tainted the results of past elections.
Not all happy
Adel Tamano, spokesman of the United Opposition,
said the appointment of Melo is “a disservice to both the
commission and the appointee himself.”
Tamano said the appointment of Melo does not
solve the image problem of the poll body.
“Justice Melo’s personal ties to GMA [the
President] undermines the public’s perception of the Comelec as an
independent body,” he said, adding that he knows Melo
personally—being a close family friend—as honest and competent.
But, Tamano said the public does not know him
personally, and his moves “as Comelec head will always be
suspected to be done to favor GMA, which only further destroys
whatever is left of the Comelec’s credibility.”
-- With AFP, Sammy Martin and Francis Earl A. Cueto
|
