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Commissioner Brillantes reappointed as Comelec Chairperson

by Eric Jude O. Alvia (NAMFREL Secretary General)
April 5, 2011
from NAMFREL Election Monitor Vol.2, No.6

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President Aquino has reappointed Comelec Chairperson Sixto Brillantes after Congress went on recess on March 25.

The ad interim appointment of Brillantes, who was named on Jan. 15, 2011 in an acting capacity while Congress was in recess and the Committee on Appointments (CA) not convened, was necessary. Those appointed by the President ad interim, if not confirmed by the CA during the succeeding session of Congress, will have to be re-appointed. Otherwise, their terms would automatically end. Even before the March 25 Congress break, the President had verbally conveyed his appointment as Comelec Chair.

Brillantes could not perform his duties if not appointed in an acting capacity without CA confirmation. The other day, President Aquino named Atty. Christopher Robert S. Lim as the new Comelec Commissioner to replace the position vacated the Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larazzabal who retired February 2, 2011. The President is expected to name one more Comelec Commissioner during the congressional break.

Article VII Section 16 of the 1987 Constitution states that:

“The President shall nominate and, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, appoint the heads of the executive departments, ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, or officers of the armed forces from the rank of colonel or naval captain, and other officers whose appointments are vested in him in this Constitution. He shall also appoint all other officers of the Government whose appointments are not otherwise provided for by law, and those whom he may be authorized by law to appoint. The Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of other officers lower in rank in the President alone, in the courts, or in the heads of departments, agencies, commissions, or boards.”

“The President shall have the power to make appointments during the recess of the Congress, whether voluntary or compulsory, but such appointments shall be effective only until disapproved by the Commission on Appointments or until the next adjournment of the Congress.”

While in Article IX, C. Commission on Elections, Section 1, paragraph (2) reads,

“The Chairman and the Commissioners shall be appointed by the President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments for a term of seven years without reappointment.”

If the appointment of Brillantes is not acted upon officially by the CA or the President, then the Chairman's seat could be considered vacant. In January 5, 2011, various CSOs and EMOs sent President Aquino a letter to have an open, transparent, and inclusive selection process in the appointment of the vacancies in the Comelec Chairperson and Commissioners positions.
 
 
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