House may appoint caretaker for vacant NegOr congressional post — Comelec

Commission on Elections chief George Garcia during a press briefing in this file photo in 2022.
—INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — After the cancelation of the special elections in the 3rd District of Negros Oriental, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday said that the House of Representatives may instead appoint a caretaker for the vacant position.

A special elections was supposed to be held on December 9, to replace expelled Negros Oriental 3rd district Rep. Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves Jr, but it was called off after the Comelec received a resolution from the House.

“As far as the 3rd legislative, it is still vacant and therefore it is up to the House of Representatives leadership to in the meantime, perhaps, appoint a caretaker which they have been doing in the past,” Comelec chair George Garcia said in an interview with ANC.

He recalled what happened in Valenzuela City when former Rep. Rex Gacthalian vacated his position upon accepting the appointment to become secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

“The congress through the Speaker of the House had appointed a caretaker for that district, the same thing would be done I think as far as the 3rd district of Negros Oriental is concerned,” he added.

According to Garcia, apart from the reasons it cited in its resolution, the House may have opted to call the special elections off since the elected official would only have less than a year to serve in his post.

READ: Special election to replace Negros Oriental Rep. Teves set on Dec. 9

“So ang iniisip siguro ng kongreso (so the House must have been thinking), why proceed with the election when we would have the election by 2025? although not cited in the resolution,” said Garcia.

READ: Barangay, SK polls in Negros Oriental under Comelec control

“A caretaker would just be the same. The caretaker would implement projects, with the proposed legislation for and behalf of the district so it will not be problematic, ginagawa po talaga ang pagtalaga ng caretaker,” he added.

He also noted that it would also help the poll body save in terms of budget, as a total of P75 million was set to be used in the conduct of the special polls — of which was taken from Comelec’s budget in other programs.