Marawi prosecutor named to Comelec

President Arroyo has named the prosecutor of Marawi City to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to fill its last vacancy, 15 months ahead of next year’s elections.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Elias Yusoph, prosecutor of Marawi City since 1987, will serve the remaining two years in the term of Commissioner Romeo Brawner, who died last June.

“So we have now complete membership in the Comelec, six members plus the chairman (Jose Melo),” he said.

Ermita said Yusoph was “highly recommended” by the Bishops-Ulama Conference (BUC), co-chaired by Archbishop of Davao Fernando Capalla, Bishop Emeritus Hilario Gomez Jr. of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines, and Dr. Hamid Barra.

“It says in the recommendation of the BUC, the appointment of Atty. Yusoph in the Comelec will not only show the sincerity of the government in appointing a Muslim to this constitutional body but will also infuse a new personality in the Commission,” he said.

Yusoph told reporters he had been endorsed to Malacañang by Davao Archbishop and Bishop-Ulama Conference co-convenor Capalla, some non-government organizations and religious leaders.

“I’m closely connected with the ulamas,” he said.

“I’ve been an imam… I have never compromised my office. That’s why I have the confidence of my people. I’m assuring the Philippine government that I can live up to the expectation that there will be credible and honest elections (in 2010).”

Wearing a sahil, a Muslim headdress, Yusoph went to the Comelec yesterday afternoon to pay a courtesy call on Comelec Chairman Melo and other officials and then checked out his new office

Yusoph said he intends to bring electoral reforms to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, of which Marawi City is a constituent part.

In November, Mrs. Arroyo appointed Armando Velasco, a regional poll official, to the Comelec.

She also reappointed Leonardo Leonida and Lucenito Tagle, whose appointments were bypassed by Congress when it when on recess last year.

The five other Comelec commissioners are Rene Sarmiento, Nicodemo Ferrer, Lucenito Tagle, Leonardo Leonida and Armando Velasco.