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President Gloria Arroyo reappointed former Supreme
Court Justice Jose Melo as chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec),
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said on Monday.
Ermita said Malacanang forwarded
Melo’s ad interim appointment Monday morning to the Commission on
Appointments so that the former justice can occupy his post
beginning today.
“Former Supreme Court Justice
Jose Melo can already occupy his office, and perform his job as
chairman of Comelec while awaiting the confirmation by the
Commission on Appointments when it convenes,” Ermita said.
An ad interim appointment is done
while Congress is not in session. Congress adjourned its session
this month without tackling Melo’s appointment.
The Comelec’s top post was
vacated in October 1 last year when Benjamin Abalos Sr. resigned
after his name was dragged into the controversial national broadband
deal.
Melo spent 40 years of government
service before retiring, 23 of them in the judiciary. He was
appointed by then-President Fidel Ramos to the High Court in 1992
when he was the Court of Appeals’ acting presiding justice.
Melo is reportedly close to
President Arroyo, because he also hails from Pampanga. He was also
the executive assistant in the Malacañang legal office during the
term of former President Diosdado Macapagal, Mrs. Arroyo’s late
father.
Melo joined the Office of the
Solicitor General in 1971. He became acting commissioner of the
Professional Regulation Commission and then Civil Service
commissioner.
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