Sunday, November 09, 2008 Palace: Comelec appointments to boost automated polls
WITH the reappointment of two commissioners and appointment of a new one, Malacañang expects the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to pave the way for automated elections in 2010.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Saturday the three will provide the needed quorum for the commission to tackle issues surrounding the automation of the polls.
"They now have a quorum. There are now six of them. They can now meet properly," he said over dzRH radio.
On Friday night, Ermita announced President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's reappointment of election commissioners Leonardo Leonida and Lucenito Tagle, and the appointment of Armando Velasco.
Velasco is the current Comelec regional director for the Cordillera Administrative Region.
Leonida and Tagle were considered bypassed after Congress went into recess, as they were not confirmed in the Commission on Appointments (CA).
Tagle was a justice of the Court of Appeals when Arroyo nominated him to the poll body.
Leonida was acting regional trial court judge in Malabon prior to his appointment.
Prior to the appointment of Tagle and Leonida, three of the Comelec's seven-member bench were vacant with the retirement of Commissioners Florentino Tuazon and Resurreccion Borra early this year, and the death last May of Commissioner Romeo Brawner.
Other members of the poll body are Chairman Jose Melo, and Commissioners Rene Sarmiento, Moslemen Macarambon, and Nicodemo Ferrer. (JMR/Sunnex)
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