Internal arrangement in Comelec ‘shady’

1. Comelec bigwigs must explain publicly why they are unjustly but effectively removing law department director Ferdie Rafanan from his post without cause, as required by law.

2. The pretext that he would be the Commission on Elections’ representative to the joint Comelec-Department of Justice probe into the the 2004 and 2007 election anomalies insults the imagination. The probe, if ever it gets under way, will only be of temporary duration.

3. Therefore, Rafanan’s role in the joint probe should only be on top of or in addition to his existing duties.

4. Comelec issued Resolution 9267 on Aug. 2, 2011 to replace Rafanan with lawyer Allen Abaya.

5. Abaya may be a good lawyer but he had been suspended by the Ombudsman in 2009, and again recently, for the security folder overprice scandal.

6. Why Comelec should now reward Abaya with a sensitive position as law department head baffles the imagination.

7. Comelec owes Congress and the people an explanation, if not an apology, for this seemingly shady internal arrangement that increases the nation’s anxiety over its inability to measure up to the expectations of our people.

—AQUILINO PIMENTEL JR.,

Pimentel Center for Local Governance,

nenepimenteljr@gmail.com