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Miriam to question legality of Padaca's Comelec appointment


Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago will question the legality of Grace Padaca’s appointment as a Comelec commissioner when she faces the Commission on Appointments.
 
Santiago said Monday that the Constitution prohibits any person from being appointed as commissioner if he or she has been a candidate in the elections immediately preceding her appointment. 
 
"It appears that she ran but lost for governor (of Isabela) in 2010 so you could say that was the last immediately preceding election where she could possibly run," she said.
 
However, Padaca's supporters countered that the immediately preceding election was the October barangay elections in 2011. 
 
Santiago said the purpose of the framers of the Constitution in prohibiting these kinds of appointments is to prevent a partisan person from participating in the process of regulation, administration of election laws. 
 
The senator added that if the reasoning of Padaca's supporters is followed, there would no longer be prohibition on partisanship as the exemptions will swallow the rule. 
 
"So this is one question I intend to raise when she (Padaca) is called for nomination before the Commission on Appointments," the senator said.   
 
President Benigno Aquino III appointed Padaca to the Commission on Elections despite the graft charges she is facing before the Sandiganbayan. It was Aquino who posted Padaca’s P70,000 bail. — DVM, GMA News
 
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