Pimentel questions Guanzon impartiality

Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

SEN. AQUILINO Pimentel III on Tuesday expressed concern about the objectivity of Election Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, citing her conduct in the hearing on a disqualification case against presidential candidate Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and her word war with vice presidential candidate Sen. Francis Escudero.

Guanzon recently had a spat with Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair Andres Bautista over her unauthorized filing of a comment on Sen. Grace Poe’s Supreme Court petition that questioned the poll body’s decision to disqualify her from running for President.

After saying that she was not Bautista’s employee, Guanzon also castigated Escudero when he said her actions posed a threat to democracy, challenging him to a showdown in the Supreme Court and daring him to lawyer for Poe.

Pimentel, chair of PDP-Laban, said he was “worried about [Guanzon’s] objectivity,” citing his experience when he attended a Comelec hearing on one of the disqualification cases against Duterte, his party’s standard-bearer.

He said Guanzon was willing to entertain a “novel idea” put forth by Oliver Lozano, counsel of Ruben Castor who sought Duterte’s disqualification, even if this idea was not based on election rules.

Lozano himself said the petition was not based on any Comelec rule because it was not a cancellation of a certificate of candidacy or a bid to declare a candidate a nuisance, which were the only ones allowed in the rules, according to Pimentel.

“Commissioner Guanzon said, ‘Well, I’m interested in this novel idea of the petitioner.’ Imagine that. Why should you entertain a case not based on your rules because you’re interested in the novel idea?” he said in a phone patch interview with reporters.

Pimentel added that he was “shocked” when he heard that.

“There should have been an outright dismissal of the petition because it was not filed pursuant to your rules,” he said.

If she was interested in Lozano’s idea, she could have brainstormed about it during the en banc session, so that the Comelec could improve its rules, PDP-Laban said. But that was no reason to entertain a case not based on its own rules, he added.

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Asked if Guanzon’s statements about Escudero also challenged her objectivity, Pimentel agreed, saying she should not be picking fights with candidates.

“She should not be attacking politicians. She’s the referee,” he said.

Pimentel also pointed to Guanzon’s earlier statement in which she said Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, a presidential candidate, was her idol.

“[Santiago] is a candidate for President. She (Guanzon) should not be saying that,” he said.

Asked who he thought Guanzon may be backing, Pimentel said it was not Santiago because she would not have admitted something in that obvious manner.

Pimentel, who chairs the Senate committee on electoral reforms, also said Comelec officials should keep their squabbles among themselves behind closed doors, during their en banc meetings.

Their public arguments could undermine the institution, he said.

“The institution would be damaged. People will doubt its capability to run not only an honest election but an efficient and orderly election,” he said.