MILF official’s nephew named new poll chief

MANILA: A nephew of a senior oficial of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the biggest rebel group in Mindanao, has been named by President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte as the new chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Malacanang Palace reported on Friday.

Malacanang said Comelec Commissioner Sheriff Abas is to replace then chairman Andres Bautista who was impeached by the House of Representatives for alleged unexplained wealth worth $20 million iled by his own wife.

Abas is to serve the unexpired term of Bautista, an appointee of then president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, which is to end on Feb.2, 2022, according to Malacanang.

Earlier, Bautista told a media interview that Abas had admitted to him that he was a nephew of Mohagher Iqbal, the MILF chief negotiator who signed a peace agreement with the Aquino administration, which aimed to establish a new Bangsamoro political entity whose initial territory is to come from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

It was also Aquino who appointed Abas as Comelec commissioner in May 2015 after serving as the deputy ARMM regional head of the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

A lawyer, Abas graduated from the College of law of the Ateneo de Davao University, based in Duterte’s hometown, which is part of a chain of prestigious schools run by Jesuit priests in the Philippines.

In an another major appointment, Malacanang said Duterte named a former cabinet oficial of then president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, now a congresswoman for her home province of Pampanga in Centtral Luzon, as the new head of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

Malacanang said Agnes Devanadera, Arroyo’s justice secretary, is to replace Jose Vicente Salazar, who was dismissed as the ERC chief after he was found guilty of the administrative case of grave abuse authority.

Devanadera was the second Arroyo cabinet oficial to join the Duterte administration, the irst being Francisco Duque who returned to his former post as the health secretary.

Duque replaced Jocelyn Ubial who failed to get approval as Duterte’s health secretary from the powerful Commission on Appointments composed of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives.