Group hails appointment of electoral body chief

MANILA: A Catholic Churchbacked poll watchdog welcomed the appointment of Sheriff Abas as the new chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), pointing out his experience could help implement much needed reforms in “problem areas” like Mindanao.

“It’s good news,” said Rene Sarmiento, the head of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), referring to Abas recently appointed by President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte as the new Comelec chairman. In particular, Sarmiento noted that Abas is not a newcomer to the Comelec having been appointed as poll commissioner by then president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino in 2015.

“His warmth, his kind of demeanor, his years in the Comelec as one of the commissioners, his being a brother Muslim,” Sarmiento said, “will give the commission a kind of sensitivity and energy needed for the introduction of electoral reforms for the marginalised and the vulnerable.”

Joining Sarmiento, himself a former poll commissioner, in welcoming the appointment of Abas was Mac Ramirez, the head of the Comelec Employees Union, who earlier batted for the naming of a Comelec “insider.”

Ramirez said in a statement: “Duterte made the right decision to name an insider who already knows how to run an election.”

Abas is a nephew of Mohagher Iqbal, the chief negotiator of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), that signed an historic agreement with the Aquino administration aimed at bring just and lasting peace to troubled Mindanao.

Before Aquino appointed him to the Comelec, Abas, a lawyer trained by Jesuit priests, served as the deputy chief of the Civil Service Commission ofice at the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). On Nov.22, Malacanang Palace announced du te rt e’ s appointment of ab as to replace come le cc hair man andre sb au ti sta who resigned following his impeachment by the House of Representatives for allegedly amassing unexplained wealth iled by his own wife.

But before the House could refer the case to the Senate, Bautista resigned with effect in December this year, but Duterte accepted his quit offer “with immediate effect.”

Under the law, the senate is to constitute itself into a court to hear impeachment cases iled against the president, vice president, Supreme Court chief justice as well as heads of constitutional government agencies like the Comelec and the ofice of the Ombudsman.