Comelec meeting fails to resolve row

MANILA, Philippines – Bickering among top officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) seems to be far from over as they failed to settle their differences at a meeting yesterday.

In an ambush interview, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said they were “very cordial” during the full commission meeting and discussed matters pertaining to budget, among others.

But according to Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, they were not able to tackle the June 3 memorandum that she and the five other commissioners sent to Bautista over his alleged “failed leadership” of the poll body. 

“There’s no closure because we were not able to discuss it. He had no voice so we suppose we have to wait (for him to recover)... The one who presided at our en banc meeting was Commissioner Al Parreño,” she told reporters.

Except for Commissioner Christian Robert Lim, all the other commissioners – Luie Tito Guia, Arthur Lim and Sheriff Abas – attended the meeting. 

Guanzon also noted that the 17-point memorandum was not included in the agenda so they were not able to bring it up. 

“It’s inappropriate to raise that in an en banc (meeting) because there’s an agenda that the chairman controls. So if it’s not in the agenda, we cannot bring it up. That’s one of the problems,” she added.

Guanzon has underscored that they wanted the “rules of the en banc improved” because the agenda is usually submitted to them less than 24 hours before the meeting. Sometimes, the agenda is even changed “the night before.”

In an earlier interview, Guanzon gave assurance that they were not ganging up on Bautista but they want him to answer certain issues. 

She said that Bautista should realize that the Comelec is a “collegial body” where the commissioners are “co-equal” with each other.  

“It’s collegial, meaning the chairman cannot act on his own. The majority decision prevails. But the problem is that many cases have already been decided or signed by the commissioners. However, the chairman signs them late,” she added.

Guanzon said that Bautista also lectured them when they voted to reject mall voting, which was the chairman’s pet project for the May 9 polls. 

“When he was outvoted on mall voting, he was harping on us, which is not right. The chairman and the commissioners should be on equal footing,” she added.

Memo

Commissioner Christian Lim said in a memorandum dated June 27 that Bautista’s recent personal trip to Japan had no travel authority.

According to Lim, there was “misapplication and/or misquotation of the provisions in Executive Orders No. 447 series of 1991 (EO 477) and 459 (EO 459) series of 2005” that Bautista invoked in issuing his own travel authority when he went to Japan over the weekend.

Bautista claimed that by virtue of these EOs, he can issue his own travel authority, just like the heads of the Office of the Ombudsman and Commission on Audit. 

But Lim maintained that based on the existing guidelines, there is no instance when a chairman could apply for and approve his own travel authority.  

“This is simply a matter of checks and balances. The Comelec en banc remains a collegial body unlike the Office of the Ombudsman. Until the existing guideline is revoked by the Comelec en banc and another is put in place, we all have to follow the guidelines we ourselves have enacted,” Lim added.