FILE PHOTO: Labor leader Leody de Guzman, chair of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino. (Photo from his Facebook account)
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte ignored calls for transparency and inclusiveness in appointing three new officials in the Commission on Elections (Comelec), presidential candidate Leody de Guzman said Tuesday.
The Palace confirmed earlier Tuesday Duterte’s appointment of Saidamin Pangarungan as ad-interim chairman of Comelec, and George Erwin Garcia and Aimee Neri as commissioners.
“Binalewala ni Duterte ang panawagan para sa transparency at inclusiveness sa pagpili ng pupuno sa mga bakanteng pwesto sa Commission on Elections,” De Guzman said in a statement.
(Duterte ignored calls for transparency and inclusiveness in choosing the individuals who would complete vacant posts in the Commission on Elections.)
READ: Duterte names new Comelec chairman, commissioners
“Sa pagkakatalaga nila Pangarungan, Neri at Garcia sa Comelec, ang buong Comelec en banc ay appointees na niya,” he lamented.
(In the appointment of Pangarungan, Neri and Garcia in Comelec, the whole Comelec en banc are his appointees.)
However, De Guzman said he still hopes that the Comelec would remain honest as an independent body and expects that pending cases against his rival presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., would be decided soon.
“Sa kabila nito, inaasahan nating mananatiling tapat sa kanilang mandato ang Commission bilang independiyente at natatanging tagapangasiwa ng halalan sa bansa,” the labor leader said.
(Despite this, we expect that the commission will continue being honest in their mandate as an independent and only overseer of elections in the country.)
“Sa pagkumpleto ng mga kasapi ng Commission en banc, inaasahan din natin ang mabilis at makaturangang desisyon sa mga kaso ng disqualification at kanselasyon ng kandidatura laban sa anak ng diktador,” added de Guzman, referring to Marcos Jr.
(In completion of the Commission en banc, we expect the swift and just decision on the disqualification and cancellation of candidacy cases filed against the son of the dictator.)
Currently, the disqualification case, citing Marcos Jr.’s tax evasion case, lodged by Pudno Nga Ilocano in December 2021 is still pending before the Comelec’s Second Division.
READ: Comelec urged to resolve pending DQ case vs Bongbong Marcos
The Comelec’s First Division earlier dismissed the consolidated disqualification cases lodged by the Akbayan party-list group, National Commission on Muslim Filipinos Commissioner Abubakar Mangelen, and martial law survivors.
Two petitions to cancel Marcos Jr.’s certificate of candidacy filed by anti-Marcos regime activists and a certain Tiburcio Marcos were also dismissed by the Comelec-Second Division.