Poll expert asks Duterte to pick ‘organic’ Comelec officials to replace Bautista, outgoing commissioners

Election Lawyer Romulo Macalintal visits Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista in his office just a few hours before the latter received the letter from President Duterte accepting his resignation “effective immediately.” Photo from Romulo Macalintal

A veteran election lawyer has urged President Rodrigo Duterte to consider promoting longtime Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials as possible replacements of outgoing elections commissioners, including now officially resigned elections chief Andres Bautista.

“I hope that President Duterte would consider some lawyers who had been serving the Comelec for more than 10 years now as election supervisors, election officers or regional directors as possible replacements of Bautista and the two other Commissioners who would be retiring in February 2018,” lawyer Romulo Macalintal said in a statement on Tuesday.

“For sure, their vast experience and knowledge of election laws and regulations place them in a better position to perform the job in this highly specialized field of resolving election cases,” he added.

Last October 11, Bautista sent his letter of resignation – effective on December 30, 2017 – to President Rodrigo Duterte. But the House of Representatives moved to impeach him on the afternoon of the same day.

READ: House impeaches Comelec chief after he said he was resigning

On Monday, however, Mr. Duterte formally accepted Bautista’s resignation “effective immediately”. Bautista promptly vacated his office upon receiving the information from Malacañang.

READ: Bautista officially steps down as Comelec chair

Macalintal, who just met with Bautista hours before his resignation was accepted by President Duterte, said the departure of the beleaguered former Comelec chief from the elections body was “too sudden” and a “pity” because Bautista was a “man of unquestioned integrity” despite the issues hurled against him by his estranged wife, Patricia.

“What a pity.  He never had the luxury of time to say goodbye to the entire officials and employees of the Comelec which he considered as ‘part of my family’,” Macalintal said.

“A man of his talent and competence and decency would have done more for the Comelec in its quest for clean election which he had proven in the 2016 presidential election, which was hailed by various foreign observers as the best managed and most credible election in our country despite his very short stint as Comelec Chairman,” he added.  /kga