New commissioners, extraordinary times

Soon the President will appoint three new commissioners to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to fill up the vacancies created by the compulsory retirement of Chairman Sheriff Abas, Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, and Commissioner Antonio Kho Jr.

These appointments will be compellingly important because the Comelec is the premier guardian of the ballot and it is these three appointees and the four sitting commissioners who will supervise the 2022 national and local elections and who will resolve election issues and disputes. It is a super body during elections because it has nine powers under the 1987 Constitution and 13 powers under the Omnibus Election Code (1985) that can be briefly categorized as judicial, legislative, executive/administrative powers.

The President will demonstrate the finest act of statesmanship if he appoints commissioners who are professionally competent, politically neutral, and who can carry out their work with integrity, independence, and impartiality.

It will be an electoral boon for the country if the names of the applicants will be publicized in the national broadsheets and social media so that the electorate can comment on their background, character, and competence. These comments will help the President find the pulse of the public before he appoints the three commissioners who will protect the guardrails of Philippine democracy. In some countries, recruitment and appointment of election officials may be from closed nominations or from open advertising, may include some form of public or private test of merit and integrity, and maybe from a pool of nominees. In Namibia and South Africa, members of election management bodies are recruited through open advertisement or interested parties may apply directly to be considered for appointment. In South Africa, they may also be nominated by members of the public. Applications are received and screened (through public interviews) by an independent body (a judicial selection committee in Namibia and a committee of the legislature in South Africa) and the names of shortlisted candidates are submitted to the head of the state for appointment. Publication of names and open advertisement will foster transparency in appointment, provide a wide pool of prospective members, promote inclusiveness by allowing all stakeholders to nominate candidates, and open opportunities for candidates outside the favored elites (“Election Management Design: The International IDEA Handbook,” 2006 ed.)

If the commissioners of the Comelec are viewed and perceived as found wanting in integrity, independence, and impartiality, the credibility of the 2022 national and local elections may be affected and create ripples of social discontent.

In these extraordinary times and as the Philippine elections gradually enter the final sprint, we hope and pray that the better angels of the President will prevail and appoint those whose interest in joining the Comelec is to achieve what the 1987 Constitution calls as “free, orderly, honest, peaceful, and credible elections.”

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Rene V. Sarmiento was a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, former Comelec commissioner, and former PPRCV chair.