Palace: Duterte will beat deadline for appointing 3 Comelec execs

The Palace on Tuesday said that President Rodrigo Duterte would beat the deadline for appointing three Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioners with less than three months to go before the May polls.

"Abangan na lang po natin kasi even I cannot give a definite timeline or answer as to a particular date and time," Acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said.

(Let us just wait for it.)

"The President is mindful of the deadlines... the legal and lawful deadlines for the appointment of very important appointees to the Comelec. So knowing the deadline and knowing that there’s a vetting process, hintayin na lang po natin ‘no (let us just wait for it)," Nograles added.

The Omnibus Election Code prohibits any head, official, or appointing officer of a government office, agency or instrumentality, whether national or local, including government-owned or controlled corporations, from appointing new employees, creating new positions, promoting or giving salary increases 45 days before the election and 30 days before a special election, except upon prior authority of the Comelec.

Likewise, the same law states that the Comelec cannot grant the authority sought for exemption "unless it is satisfied that the position to be filled is essential to the proper functioning of the office or agency concerned and that the position shall not be filled in a manner that may influence the election."

The same prohibition on appointments can be found under Comelec's Resolution 10742.

There are 76 days before the May 9, 2022 polls, the first ever to be conducted in the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Rest assured that the President will make the appointments soon, beating the deadline and making sure that it will not fall within the deadline," Nograles said.

The Comelec, which should be composed of nine Commissioners including its Chair, only has six Commissioners at the moment due to the retirement of their three colleagues last February 2.

These three retirements included former Chair Sheriff Abas, former Commissioners Rowena Guanzon, and Antonio Kho Jr. — DVM, GMA News