Recall Garcillano appointment, GMA asked

Senate President Franklin Drilon urged President Arroyo yesterday to recall the ad interim appointment of Virgilio Garcillano as one of the two new commissioners of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

"Because of the controversy this particular appointment has generated, the President may want to rethink and withdraw it while she can," Drilon told radio station dzRH.

He said he heard "people in the know say nasty things about him (Garcillano)" in a social gathering he attended on Wednesday night.

The appointment of Garcillano and Manuel Barcelona Jr. to the Comelec is not yet confirmed by the Commission on Appointments (CA), which will not convene until Congress resumes session in June after the elections.

Once confirmed, the new commissioners can be removed from office only through the tedious impeachment process, Drilon said.

He stressed that the President can help the Comelec strengthen its credibility by appointing officials whose impartiality and integrity cannot be impugned.

"The Comelec needs all the help it can get to regain the people’s trust especially after the Supreme Court voided its automated counting machine contract," he said.

Opposition Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., who was a victim of dagdag-bawas (vote shaving and padding) in 1995, has accused Garcillano of involvement in the electoral fraud.

The new Comelec official, he said, was also involved in the registration of fake voters in Northern Mindanao.

Garcillano, who was Comelec director in the region until he retired two years ago, denied the charges.

As for Barcelona, Drilon said he has not heard negative things about him except that he was associated with the law firm of F. Arthur "Pancho" Villaraza, the personal lawyer of Mrs. Arroyo and her husband.

"It could only be guilt by association. As far as I know, he has his own law office," he said.

Barcelona was president of the Philippine Postal Corp. until his appointment to the Comelec.

Meanwhile, opposition Sen. Edgardo Angara told a news conference yesterday that Mrs. Arroyo actually violated the Constitution by appointing the two new commissioners in a temporary capacity.

"The pertinent provision prohibits the appointment or designation of a member of the Comelec in a temporary or acting capacity. This prohibition is explicit and special to the Comelec," Angara said, referring to Article IX of the Charter.

Because of this constitutional injunction, he said there has never been an instance in the past when appointees to the poll body were issued ad interim appointments, except in the case of former commissioner Haydee Yorac, who was named acting Comelec Chairman when Hilario Davide Jr. was appointed to the Supreme Court.

He also said that the President can appoint Comelec members only while Congress is in session and the appointees cannot assume office until confirmed by the CA.

However, an election lawyer in Cagayan Valley said that Garcillano and Barcelona can actually legally assume office pending confirmation of their appointment by the CA.

"This issue had already been cleared by the Supreme Court in its decision in the case of Matibag versus Benipayo dated April 2, 2002," lawyer Romulo Macalintal said in a statement.

Macalintal said that the petitioner also questioned the ad interim appointments of Comelec Chairman Alfredo Benipayo, Comelec Commissioners Resurreccion Borra and Florentino Tuason Jr. by Mrs. Arroyo in 2001.

However, he said that the court ruled that "an ad interim appointment is a permanent appointment because it takes effect immediately and can no longer be withdrawn by the President once the appointee has qualified into office. The fact that it is subject to confirmation by the (CA) does not alter its permanent character."

While on the campaign trail in Legazpi City yesterday, presidential contender Raul Roco also took the time to question the two new Arroyo appointees to the Comelec.

"If it is true that one of them was charged with election fraud, I can’t understand why Mrs. Arroyo appointed him there if she really wanted the elections to be clean and honest," Roco said, apparently referring to Garcillano.

He added that he could not understand why the President had also appointed "somebody who has never done any election law practice," obviously referring to Barcelona. — With Rodel Clapano, Sheila Crisostomo