MANILA, Philippines -- A Malacañang-formed search committee has submitted to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo five nominees -- all "national figures," for the chairmanship of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the head of the panel said.

The committee consulted with former Comelec chairpersons, including Harriet Demetriou and Bernardo Pardo; and elections lawyers, including Romulo Macalintal, as well as representatives from the public and private sector to come up with the five names, which was reduced from a list of 62 nominees, said Jose Concepcion Jr.

"We submitted the names to the President and it is from there that she would make her choice and appointment," said Concepcion, concurrent chairman of the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel).

"We went through the process. We [were looking for] integrity, honesty. [The nominees have] no bad record," he told reporters in a chance interview at the Palace.

Asked when Arroyo would decide, Concepcion said: "I don't know. It's up to her, but I think it has to be probably in the next three days she'll be appointing."

Concepcion said he believed that the five names would be acceptable, even to the political opposition.

Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos resigned in October last year amid allegations he tried to bribe former socioeconomic planning secretary Romulo Neri to favor the bid of China's ZTE Corp. for the multimillion- dollar National Broadband Network (NBN) project.

Abalos headed the Comelec amid allegations of widespread cheating in 2004, where Arroyo won over the late movie star Fernando Poe Jr., and in the 2007 mid-term election, where opposition candidate Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III is questioning the win of Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, who clinched the 12th and final slot in the senatorial race.

The NBN project, which was meant to interconnect government offices, was eventually scrapped.

Aside from the Comelec chairman, the poll body is also lacking one commissioner. Two more vacancies are expected this year when Commissioners Resureccion Borra, the acting Comelec chairman, and Florentino Tuason retire.