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Comelec Employees Cheer Abalos Resignation

Written by Aries Rufo
Monday, 01 October 2007
Resigned Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos is leaving behind a damaged institution. Thus, it came as no surprise that several poll employees cheered and clapped their hands as Abalos announced his resignation today. Abalos made history; he is the first Comelec chair to resign from his post. The poll body is a constitutional agency and its head and members can only be removed through impeachment. (read Abalos’s full statement here) His resignation came four days after former Economic Planning Secretary (now acting chair of the Commission on Higher Education) Romulo Neri testified at a Senate hearing that Abalos offered him P200 million in exchange for the approval of the government’s national broadband deal with China’s ZTE Corp. An impeachment case has also been filed against him at the House of Representatives. “The resignation is good for the Commission,” said Commissioner Rene Sarmiento. “That is the most graceful and principled way.” He noted that while the broadband project is not related to the work of the commission, the Comelec as an institution was unfairly drawn into the mess with Abalos’s high-profile involvement in it. “As chair, he cannot separate himself from the institution,” Sarmiento said. Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer said there was no prior indication from Abalos that he would quit. “We were all busy preparing for the barangay elections so there was really no time for us to discuss it even informally.” A Comelec source said that since the broadband scandal erupted, the Comelec en banc has not sat down to tackle pending administration and election issues, particularly those related to the scheduled barangay polls scheduled on October 29. The last time the poll commissioners met en banc was three weeks ago, the same source said. Senior Comelec officials told Newsbreak that Abalos’s resignation was long overdue. “We’ve been waiting (for his resignation) for the longest time. The Comelec suffered in credibility because of him,” said one poll official who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of antagonizing Abalos. “He is leaving no legacy. Instead, he took everything away: integrity, honesty, transparency, good governance,” said another. As a former mayor of Mandaluyong, Abalos was the first politician to head the poll body since the fall of the Marcos dictatorship in 1986. President Arroyo appointed him in 2002 to replace Alfredo Benipayo, who was later named Solicitor General. Abalos’s stint at the Comelec was marked with controversies. The Supreme Court declared null and void the ambitious P1.2-billion automation project of Comelec amid allegations that massive kickbacks attended the deal. Like in the ZTE contract, Abalos accepted invitations for him to go abroad, courtesy of the project proponent. Like the ZTE project, the winning bidder in the computerization project were also his close friends and associates (READ: Abalos Offered Me P200M – Neri here) Deaf Ears As early as 2005, various groups have sought for his resignation. He ignored calls for him to investigate the “Hello,Garci” scandal that broke that year and which involved his subordinates. He even promoted members of the alleged network of cheats of former commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, the principal character in the “Hello, Garci” scandal. (read related stories here) In its January 2006 pastoral statement, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines called on him to quit. Throughout his stint, Abalos had to fend off constant accusations that he favored administration candidates over opposition bets in the two elections that he managed: the 2004 presidential race and the 2007 senatorial and local races. In the 2007 senatorial race, he was allegedly behind the move to sow voter confusion to ruin the chances of then opposition senatorial bet Alan Peter Cayetano. Cayetano is now chair of the Senate blue ribbon committee, which is investigating the ZTE project. Even within the Comelec itself, Abalos suffered credibility problems largely because of two men closest to him: Jimmy Paz, his chief of staff, and Eduardo Mejos, the poll body’s treasurer. At one point, Comelec employes demanded for Abalos’s resignation after he failed to release benefits due them allegedly due to the machinations of Paz and Mejos. As the most senior of the five remaining commissioners and the only career official in the poll body, Resurreccion Borra is expected to take over as chair in an acting capacity. But Borra was also dragged into the P1.2-billion automation mess. It is unlikely that President Arroyo will appoint a new chairman now considering that the replacement will only serve Abalos’s term, which ends on Feb. 2, 2008. Borra and Commissioner Florentino Tuason will also retire that month. This early, nongovernment organizations are calling for greater transparency in the selection process for the vacant positions. (READ: Election Watchdogs Want Transparency in Comelec Appointments here) INTERACT WITH THIS ARTICLE
Last Updated ( Monday, 01 October 2007 )

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