A newly named elections commissioner declined President Benigno Aquino III's appointment, while questions have been raised against another appointee to the poll body.
The Commission on Elections again found itself in need of a new commissioner after Malacanang announced Saturday that Aquino accepted election lawyer Bernadette Sardillo's withdrawal of her application.
"In a letter dated March 7, 2013, Atty. Bernadette Sardillo withdrew her application to the COMELEC, citing her family's wish for her to remain in the private sector," deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte posted via Twitter Saturday.
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Commenting on the news, Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes, Jr. said he
was is "deeply disappointed and saddened," adding that Sardillo "would
have been a great addition to the Comelec," he said in his Twitter
account.
Aquino announced Sardillo's appointment Thursday, along with that of former Justice Undersecratary Macabangkit Lanto.
Senators
meanwhile noted that poll fraud allegations Lanto faced more than two
decades ago may be raised against him before the Commission on
Appointments (CA).
Lanto lost his seat as Lanao del Norte
representative in 1994 after an electoral tribunal declared Mario
Hisuler winner in the 1992 polls.
The newly named poll
commissioner, however, said he was "not a beneficiary nor a perpetrator
of election fraud in the 1992 elections."
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This, as he called the decision by the House Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) in 1994 "grossly unfair and unfortunate."
Lanto
noted that he, then a neophyte lawyer, had fallen "victim to the
machinations of corrupt HRET Technical Group personnel who connived with
members of an extremely powerful clan in Lanao Del Norte whom I
embarrassed with my election victory."
Brillantes, for his part, backed Lanto after noting that he had looked into the HRET ruling.
"[W]hile
there may have been irregularities, there was no evidence linking the
commissioner to the irregularities," reports quoted Brillantes as
saying.
Lanto also said: "I have been in government service for
more than 30 years, holding high and sensitive positions in the
bureaucracy, and never was I ever involved in any case of fraud,
corruption or misconduct."
Reports quoted senators as saying,
however, that the CA may not even have time to hear Lanto's appointment
as the 15th Congress nears its close.
The CA, which confirms
appointment made by the President, is a joint body composed of 12
senators and 12 congressmen, with the Senate President as chairman.
