Comelec employees back Bautista vs commissioners

AMID the friction currently roiling the Commission on Elections, its employees pledged their support to Chair Andres Bautista even as they urged all the commissioners to come together and focus on the coming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.

More than 50 members of the Comelec Employees Union came out of their offices at Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros, Manila, at noon on Thursday bearing lighted candles and releasing white balloons into the sky.

They were joined by Bautista himself, who thanked the employees for their support.

“Mabuhay si chairman,” they shouted and clapped, with some having their pictures taken with him.

The union members urged the commissioners to settle their differences and work together, especially with the joint barangay and SK [youth] elections coming up in October.

Union president Mac Ramirez said the employees simply wanted the Comelec officials to come together and carry out their duties.

“In the middle of the infighting of our leaders, the employees call for unity and cooperation. From our leaders to the employees we should work together, especially with another election just around the corner,” Ramirez said.

A statement of support for Bautista was passed around.

It read in part: “We, the employees of the Comelec, support the chair in his leadership of the commission and we will give our all-out cooperation in making the preparation of the barangay elections as well as his administration successful!”

In a brief talk to the employees, Bautista said the Comelec was not only composed of himself, the commissioners or the en banc, but of all its workers.

“I’ve been here for a year. You can count on me to exhibit professionalism—that is very important. We should do our sworn duties for the Comelec,” he said.

Bautista did not mention the friction between himself and the commissioners, which was caused by the commissioners’ recent complaint of his “failed leadership.”

Instead, he urged the employees to continue to work with respect and courtesy.

He reminded them to focus on two important things—the credibility of the elections and the Comelec’s own credibility. With a report from Toni Diane Bellen