Probe team wants Jimenez, deputy barred from facing media

MANILA – Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesman Director James Jimenez and his deputy at the Education and Information Department (EID), Director Frances Arabe, may soon be temporarily barred from facing the media, as the poll body continued its probe into the mess stemming from the foiled PiliPinas Debates 2022.

In a statement, Task Force Pilipinas Debates 2022 Fiasco head Commissioner Rey Bulay said that Jimenez and Arabe have been recommended to be temporarily relieved from their roles in dealing with the media while the investigation on the problems faced by the five-debate series is ongoing.

“In the interest of the service, Commissioner Bulay recommended that Directors James Jimenez and Frances Arabe be temporarily relieved from any functions involving media relations and exposure,” said Bulay.

This, he said, means that there is a need to designate replacements for Jimenez and Arabe in their respective posts.

“To continue the duties of Directors Jimenez and Arabe in the Education and Information Department, it was recommended that temporary replacements be designated,” said the poll official.

Nevertheless, Bulay said Jimenez and

Arabe may still be retained in their other internal posts.

“To prevent disruption in the essential election operations, the elections being a few days away, Directors Jimenez and Arabe were recommended to continue other functions under the supervision of their committee heads,” said Bulay.

To note, Jimenez and Arabe were among the Comelec officials directly involved in the partnership with Impact Hub Manila in producing the PiliPinas Debates 2022.

The two officials are also being pointed as the ones that allegedly pushed for the Comelec to release P15 million in public funds to cover for the financial problems of Impact Hub with debates host, Sofitel Philippines Plaza.

The said financial issues between Impact Hub and Sofitel Philippines has resulted in the cancellation of the last two presidential and vice presidential debate series.

According to Bulay, the Task Force has also found reasonable cause to commence a formal fact-finding and administrative disciplinary investigation on the controversy.

He said the task force will be comprised of Bulay, the executive director, director of the Finance Services Department, director of the Law Department, and director of the Personnel Department.