Comelec designates Lim acting chairman
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Christian Robert Lim has been designated acting chairman following the resignation of Chairman Andres Bautista.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the members of the commission en banc, in an executive session, “unanimously voted” to select Lim, who is the most senior among the commissioners.
“Until a new chairman has been appointed, Commissioner Lim will be the acting chairman,” Jimenez said. Lim can very well do the job since he has experience in managing elections, he added. “If you will recalł when Chairman (Sixto) Brillantes retired, he (Lim) was also the acting chairman. He started the preparations for the 2016 elections.”
“We are looking at a man who has a wealth of experience in managing elections,” Jimenez added. In fact, he said, the acting chairman has already laid down a roadmap of their activities in the coming days.
Jimenez said the coming retirement of Lim in February,
2018, is not a problem, saying they don’t expect President Duterte to take long in appointing Bautista’s replacement.
Asked who might be named by the President, Jimenez said, “Just like everyone else we have been hearing names, but none of them are being taken by the Comelec officially as any sort of indication… There’s no speculation as to the next chairman,” he said.
Bautista, who tendered his resignation last October 11, officially stepped down from his post Monday after receiving a letter from Malacañang saying the President has accepted his resignation “effective immediately.”
The commission’s employees appealed to President Duterte to consider appointing an “insider” as his replacement. “The Comelec Employees Union humbly appeals for the President to consider insiders as replacement of Chairman Bautista,” the group said.
Insiders, they said, should also be appointed to the posts that will be vacated by two poll commissioners in February, 2018. “We note that there is no shortage of qualified and competent individuals from within the ranks,” they said.
Poll lawyer Romulo Macalintal also urged President Duterte to consider some lawyers who had been serving the Comelec for more than ten years now as election supervisors, election officers, or regional directors.
“Their vast experience and knowledge of election laws and regulations place them in a better position to perform the job in this highly specialized field of resolving election cases,” he said.
The Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) said: “There is no need to rush appointment of Comelec chairperson. There is a need to vet candidates to the position, considering that such person will lead Comelec in at least three major elections – the 2018 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, the 2019 midterm elections, and the 2022 presidential elections, There is also that additional work of overseeing a referendum if Charter change will push through.”