RETIRED CHIEF Justice Hilario Davide Jr. has pushed for a revamp of the Commission on Elections and submitted to Malacañang the names of six people “of integrity” as possible commissioners of a poll body tainted with allegations of fraud and connivance with politicians.

The Palace yesterday said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would seriously consider the Davide recommendations.

“Coming from the former Chief Justice himself, the President will give that short list a lot of weight,” Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said in an interview.

Speaking to the Inquirer in Cebu City, Davide, the President’s adviser on electoral reforms, stressed the urgency of reforming the Comelec but said he had yet to receive word from Ms Arroyo about his recommendations.

“It is not necessarily a total revamp but basic infrastructural change,” he told the Inquirer.
Davide declined to identify his six nominees but they came from his initial list of 11 names.

He said he believed his six nominees “can really restore the credibility of the commission” whose integrity has been tarnished because of allegations of corruption and poll cheating.

At the center of the scandals that have ravaged public confidence in the Comelec is the accusation that Ms Arroyo, in purported wiretapped phone conversations with former Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, conspired with him to tamper with the results of the 2004 presidential election.

Ms Arroyo and Garcillano have denied any wrongdoing.

Beyond dispute

“I recommend them (the six) because I know that they are highly capable persons of integrity and character, competence, probity and independence which are the very criteria the Constitution also prescribes even for the members of the judiciary,” Davide said.
“Their integrity is beyond dispute. I believe that they can really restore the credibility of the commission,” he stressed.

Comelec Chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. welcomed the recommendations for poll reforms, saying “they are the fruits of Davide’s consultation with us.”

But Abalos dodged comment on Davide’s disclosure that he had recommended six nominees to Ms Arroyo.

A political matter

“I cannot comment on that because I haven’t heard about it,” Abalos told the Inquirer by phone. “But if that’s true, appointing commissioners is a prerogative of the President and it is a political matter.”

The Constitution provides for a Comelec chair and six commissioners. Only four of the six commissioner seats are filled at present. Appointees are made by the President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments.

The Constitution fixes the commissioner’s term at seven years without reappointment. Members can only be removed from office through impeachment or resignation.

When asked if a revamp was possible considering that commissioners could only be removed through impeachment, Davide said changes in the Constitution were also part of the long report he submitted to Ms Arroyo on March 10.

Davide praying

“I am hopeful, I am praying, that they would be in place because of the very nature of the proposals which are urgent,” Davide said.

He declined to specify the provisions in the Charter he wanted changed, saying he would rather leave it to Ms Arroyo to release to the public the contents of his report.

Davide said he marked his report as urgent so his proposals would be implemented before the 2007 elections.

“The final report, which I submitted to the President on March 10, was quite long because these are reforms some of which would be a continuation of what I believed should be in place before 2007, then the medium-term reforms and the long-term reforms,” Davide said.

Political dynasty, nepotism

“The long-term reforms would include what has been indicated in the newspapers,” he added.
Davide said that when he submitted his interim report on Feb. 10, the President called him a week later “to elaborate and to explain.”

He said some of his recommendations included the proposals he had submitted to the 1971 Constitutional Convention and the 1986 Constitutional Commission, particularly on political dynasties and nepotism.

He said he included in his latest proposals a recommendation for higher penalties for election offenses and proposals for an easier way to prosecute these kinds of cases.
Davide said that Ms Arroyo might need some time to reflect on his “suggestions.”

Worthy task

In a statement, Ms Arroyo said she appreciated “the worthy task undertaken by (Davide) … and his eminent recommendations on the matter of electoral reforms.”

“These recommendations will be closely and seriously considered in the light of the common desire to cure the ills of our electoral process, preclude the resurgence of political turmoil, and drive the air of poisoned politics out of the degenerated system,” she said.

Ms Arroyo also said Davide’s inputs had “given a strong impetus to our common goals in the national interest” that should encourage everyone to get on board “the train of electoral reform.”

Proposed reforms

The Palace said that in his recommendations, Davide called for a ban on the appointment of local officials and congressmen to any public office during their term in office, and any senator to any public office within three years of his election.

Only a few months ago, Ms Arroyo tapped Antipolo Representative Ronaldo Puno to be interior secretary and Camarines Sur Representative Rolando Andaya Jr. to be budget secretary.

Davide’s other recommendations include a ban on political dynasties, fixing the terms of congressmen and local government officials to four years, holding the national and local elections on different dates, and prohibiting elective officials from switching parties in the middle of their terms.

Even a political party supportive of the administration believes the Comelec needs to be purged to make it credible again.

Congressional leaders welcomed the package of constitutional amendments proposed by Davide, saying it lent credibility to the ongoing Charter change drive.

Need for Cha-cha

Eastern Samar Representative Marcelino Libanan (Lakas), vice chair of the House committee on justice, said Davide only underscored the urgent need for Charter change, or Cha-cha.

Baguio City Representative Mauricio Domogan (Lakas), vice chair of the committee on constitutional amendments, said Davide’s recommendations highlighted the need for reforms in the political system, such as doing away with the “obsolete mechanisms which are a drag on its democratic processes.”

“All his proposals are good. But let’s not forget that our main problem is the instability brought about by poll fraud in 2004. Unless we solve that, not even Cha-cha can improve the average Filipino’s lot in life,” said Cibac party-list Representative Joel Villanueva.

What Filipinos want

The Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas, with which National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales is affiliated, said that while Ms Arroyo could not remove Comelec officials, she could “exercise persuasive powers” to convince its officials linked to anomalies to resign to pave the way for reforms.

The P1.3-billion contract for the purchase of automated counting machines, election fraud and the “Hello Garci” wiretapping scandal have blackened the poll body’s reputation.
A recent Pulse Asia survey showed that 52 percent of Filipinos want the current Comelec commissioners to quit.

PDSP spokesperson Jose “Nonong” Ricafrente said Abalos and the other commissioners linked to the ACM deal should step down “before any genuine reforms can be implemented.”

“These officials are impeding reforms and doing the country a great disservice by clinging to their posts. The government cannot hope to regain the people’s trust in the poll body and in the electoral process if these officials tainted with anomalies remain in power,” Ricafrente said. With a report from Michael Lim Ubac


-By Jolene R. Bulambot, Gil C. Cabacungan Jr., Jerome Aning
http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.ph...story_id=72341