Comelec commissioner, 2 others to face CA next week

Rejected by the Commission on Appointments ( CA) many times during her stint as a commissioner of the Commission on Audit (COA), former mayor Rowena Guanzon will again face the powerful body as a commissioner of the Commission on Elections next week.

Senate President Franklin Drilon, concurrent CA overall chairman, has called for an all-member caucus on June 3.

CA Secretary Arturo Tiu yesterday said the respective CA committees will also tackle the appointments of Health Secretary Janette Garin and COA chairperson Michael Aguinaldo.

Guanzon is former mayor of Cadiz City in Negros Occidental and a known ally of Interior Secretary Mar Roxas. She is a graduate of the UP College of Law and member of the Delta Lambda Sigma, a sister sorority of the Sigma Rho fraternity, to which Roxas’ lawyers Avelino Cruz and Simeon Marcelo belong.

Cruz was defense secretary while Marcelo was ombudsman during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Roxas was then secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Guanzon was previously appointed by Malacañang as COA commissioner but was rejected by the CA in 2013. She was also rejected by the Judicial and Bar Council for a judiciary posting.

When she was COA commissioner, officials said Guanzon actively pursued all Makati-related projects under then Makati mayor and now Vice President Jejomar Binay and even berated auditors for failing to find any irregularity in Makati and wanted them to come up with a report reversing COA’s original findings.